In the Tver region, police exposed a large laboratory for the production of synthetic drugs. The peculiarity is that all those detained were Latvian citizens. This is not the first time that foreigners have come to Russian villages to produce drugs under a kind of "franchise" of large drug stores. How the organization of drug labs in Russia is organized and who is behind this criminal business, "Izvestia" investigated.
Adventures of foreigners in Russia
Izvestia's source told the details of the investigation against Latvian citizens who organized a laboratory for the production of synthetic drugs in Central Russia. The defendants were detained last fall at Sheremetyevo airport with a cargo of precursors for the production of narcotic drugs. Investigations revealed that the detainees stored equipment and synthesized drugs on the territory of a garage complex in Sergiev Posad near Moscow. The police also established the address of another laboratory: it was located in the village of Maloye Pishchalino in the Zubtsovsky district of the Tver region. The land and a house of almost 100 square meters were bought by the accomplices specifically for the production of illicit drugs.
Why foreigners
According to Sergei Pelikh, an expert on international organized crime, it is much easier for foreign citizens to conduct criminal activity in Russia using the so-called shift method. They come to Russia, make a batch of drugs, sell it and quickly go home, for example, to Latvia.
- At the moment, Russian law enforcement agencies have virtually no cooperation with this country in the fight against crime. But even if they did, the process of bringing them to justice is very labor-intensive," says the specialist.
In his opinion, the drug market offers a lot of money, which residents of the poor Baltic republics can hardly earn at home.
- And it would be problematic for them to set up a laboratory discreetly in their home country: the country is small and all criminal niches are occupied. And here no one knows them, they are not covered in the databases in any way," says the expert.
Not only from the Baltics are traveling with criminal intent, "Izvestia" found out. Last summer citizens of Belarus were detained. They also set up a laboratory for the production of mephedrone in a remote village, in their case - near Smolensk.
The law does not look at passports
If we talk about drug laboratories, we are talking, as a rule, about a particularly large amount of narcotics, says lawyer Alexander Pliev.
- The punishment in this case will be from 15 to 20 years of imprisonment, with a large amount - from 10 to 20 years of imprisonment. Specifically, "chemists" will also be participants in drug trafficking," he says.
If citizens of the Baltic States or Belarus carry out illegal activities on the territory of Russia, they are liable under the current Russian legislation, notes the Izvestia interlocutor.
- At the same time, no requests for cooperation in this area have been received from the Baltic states since 2022," says the lawyer. - As for Belarus, joint work on countering the spread of narcotic drugs is carried out as usual.
According to a source in the anti-drug unit of the Interior Ministry, citizens of Ukraine, Georgia and India have also been noticed in the production of drugs on the territory of Russia.
They have spread their nets
- It is believed that [Yegor] Burkin (the alleged creator of the Khimprom drug store. - Izvestia) came up with and implemented the scheme for developing network laboratories," says Sergei Pelikh, former head of the anti-drug unit of the investigative department of the Russian Interior Ministry. - The store itself goes out to a person already integrated into the drug world. It could be a successful "kladmen" or a "runner" who dreams of earning more money. He is offered, for a certain fee, to organize the production of drugs on the condition that the store itself buys all the goods. That is, the store itself buys and sends him the equipment for synthesizing mephedrone and takes care of the precursors. "Barista" (so in the jargon of drug addicts they call the manufacturer-artisan. - "Izvestia") at each stage they send him manuals with an algorithm of actions.
According to Pelikh, in the early days of the network scheme, drug dealers organized in-person master classes in the Moscow region on the manufacture of synthetic drugs. Today, experience is passed on with the help of instructions. The condition of full transfer of the manufactured substance to the organizer of the scheme is fundamental, Pelikh points out.
- This is how the owners of large stores ensure a monopoly. Trial batches of new participants in the scheme are analyzed by professional chemists, offer the supplier solutions to improve the product. In addition, the beneficiaries check the honesty of the "barista". In case of embezzlement, he will not be happy. He will be dealt with by the so-called "sportiks" - marginalized people who are ready to take the soul out of a person for money. Mores in this world are very cruel," says the expert.
It is still difficult to determine who owns the whole business of laboratory development. But according to indirect indications, the main players are from Khimprom.
- Once it was a store. Today it's a drug empire with many structural subdivisions," explains Pelich. - Their tactic is to create small stores in each region.
Rubber-scented money
An important component of the success of the existing drug business is the low price in almost any region.
- This is achieved by the availability of laboratories and 'lab technicians' all over the country and cheap precursors," Pelich points out.
The problem is also that these substances are also used in the country's legal chemical industry.
- We may be talking about warehouse thefts, thefts during transportation," says Sergey Pelikh. - There are also schemes when an enterprise is formally established ostensibly for the production of rubber products, but in fact 80% of the raw material supply, which is suitable as a precursor for drug dealers, goes to "laboratories".
The specialist believes that the real picture of precursor supplies to the drug market is horrifying.
- In my opinion, control over the use of precursors used to make synthetic drugs is extremely weak," he believes. - Given the ease of manufacturing "chemistry," tracking the amount of such substances consumed in the industry is the only way to make life difficult for drug traffickers. Of course, it will be difficult to strangle, but the production volume will be significantly reduced, and the price of synthetics will increase.
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, in 2024 law enforcers revealed 198 thousand drug offenses (almost 4% more than a year earlier). About 42.5 tons of prohibited psychoactive substances were seized. The number of initiated criminal cases on smuggling of drugs and their precursors increased by 37.5% - up to 378. The number of cases of illegal production (as well as sale, transfer, acquisition, storage, transportation, manufacturing, processing, as well as violation of the rules of circulation of narcotic drugs or psychotropic substances) for the purpose of sale increased by 3% (3,870 criminal cases).
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