Drug dealers have started hiring schoolchildren under the age of 16 to work as pawnbrokers

Stores that hold leading positions on the drug market have launched a large-scale recruitment campaign to attract schoolchildren. Izvestia found out after studying information on the darknet and Telegram that teenagers from 14 to 16 years of age are now being hired as pawnbrokers.

Heavy traffic: drug dealers increased cocaine imports to Russia

Law enforcers are intercepting 10 times more illegal goods than they did two years ago, and criminals are changing their methods and routes of delivery

Criminals buy data on users of large chatbots in Telegram, after which they make advertising mailings to the contact database. Izvestia estimates that the number of users who could receive the ads exceeds one million. Spam mailings are also made among darknet advertising agencies that post information in Telegram.

In recruitment ads, drug sellers indicate the mark "14+" or write that they hire people of any age. The fact that the age threshold for couriers has been lowered, the publication was confirmed to the source associated with advertising on the shadow Internet.

"The drug business is rapidly getting younger. The number of drug shops is growing, they are constantly short of couriers: they are regularly arrested, many leave on their own, fearing prison," he said.

By hiring children under the age of 16, drug shop owners want to reduce the staffing shortage. Under Russian law, such people are not criminally liable for selling illegal substances.

According to law enforcement and media reports, detentions of minors have occurred repeatedly in recent months. In November 2024, it was reported that a ninth-grade student from the Magadan region turned out to be an employee of a drug shop that distributed substances in more than 20 regions of Russia.

Already in December, law enforcement officers detained a 15-year-old schoolgirl with a large batch of mephedrone. The incident took place in the Urals. In the same month in Moscow began a check against teenagers who blackmailed a 15-year-old schoolboy to make bookmarks.

Read more in the exclusive material "Izvestia":

Courier ladder: drug shops have become more active in recruiting teenagers