Soviet Newspaper Blames Drug Users for 2 Murders, Thefts

Drug addicts in the Soviet central Asian city of Alma-Ata have committed two murders and are responsible for more than half of all thefts and burglaries in the area, an official newspaper said Friday.

The trade union daily Trud said three addicts had knifed and strangled a man to steal his car and sell it to pay for drugs, and a married couple had hacked to death a woman student before robbing her in the street.