Sakha republic police found 8.5 kilograms of marijuana in the possession of a 16-year-old boy after receiving a tip that a village resident was harvesting the plant.
When officers found the culprit in the village of Markh in the far eastern republic, they were surprised to learn that he was a teenager, Sakha police said Wednesday in a statement on their website.
The boy told the officers that he was collecting the "herb" for personal use, the statement said.
But officers later found 8.5 kilograms of the dried plant that the teen had collected on the roof of a garage, leading them to believe the boy had been planning to sell it.
The 16-year-old faces charges of large-scale drug-trafficking, an offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
The investigation is ongoing, police said.
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