They convinced three known drug users to manufacture and consume the opioid “krokodil” in a flat using ingredients they stole from police evidence stores.

Yury Titov and Ivan Mantrov then busted the den in a bid to improve their job performance figures, a court heard.

Titov has been slapped with a six-year suspended sentence and Mantrov has been given a three-and-a-half year suspended sentence, the BBC reprots.