A drunk Russian surgeon was arrested after he allegedly swiped a bag of heroin from a patient’s stomach, police said Tuesday.

The Russian doctor, who was not named, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on charges of theft and possession, police in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia told Reuters.

“The doctor was intoxicated at the time of detention,” a statement from police said.

The doctor would not answer questions from police without a lawyer, according to Reuters. Police would not say whether the patient, who had a five-gram bag of heroin in his stomach, was arrested.

The patient was identified as a drug mule, Russia's RIA Novosti news service reported. The bag of heroin was later found on the surgeon's clothes.

RIA Novosti viewed police video of the doctor, described as a burly man in a suit, in his holding cell. A woman asks him why he's there, and her responds he won't comment without his lawyer present.

The Russian news outlet reported that 8 million Russians use drugs and that 150,000 Russians are jailed for drug-related crimes each year, according to 2013 figures from the Federal Drug Control Service.

The doctor works for the Bogotol town hospital in Krasnoyarsk.