Hell's bullseye: drugs are coming to Russia from Moldova
A batch of drugs intended for distribution in the capital region was detained by Russian customs officers together with colleagues from the FSB. Almost 300 kg of prohibited drugs of various types were imported into the Russian Federation from Moldova. How traffic from the former Soviet Republic is changing in the light of geopolitical changes is in the Izvestia article.
What's from where
"In the Moscow region, customs officers stopped a truck for inspection. According to the documents, more than 21 tons of apples were transported in the vehicle. During the inspection, in addition to the declared fruits, the operatives found three hiding places in the semi-trailer floor. 106 polymer briquettes were extracted from them. The examination revealed that the vacuum packages contained narcotic drugs: clephedrone, methadone and hashish," the FCS of Russia said in a statement.
A cargo of fruits is often used as camouflage for transporting illegal substances from Moldova to Russia. Drugs are usually hidden in fake fruits, pallets and other hiding places.
Hashish, produced mainly in Morocco, has been trafficked through Moldova for years, says a source in law enforcement agencies. The expert focuses on the increase in the flow of synthetic drugs from Moldova.
Earlier, the Moldovan Interior Minister reported an increase in the smuggling of "synthetics" due to changes in the logistics routes of drug traffickers and an increase in import volumes from neighboring Ukraine.
— It is possible that some of these products are being driven to us through the same Upper Lars (on the border of the Russian Federation with Georgia. — Izvestia), says a police source. — It is not by chance that Customs pays attention to such hooks in logistics. For normal fruit merchants, such a gigantic route is hardly profitable — the apples would have turned out to be "golden".
The source of Izvestia draws attention to the fact that methadone is present in the cargo — this drug requires laboratory conditions for production.
— As far as I know, a large production facility has been established on the territory of Ukraine, where at one time for quite a long time they could not abandon the substitution therapy in which this substance was used, — says the interlocutor.
In his opinion, methadone seeps through the border with Moldova, and then goes through the countries of the former Soviet Transcaucasia to Russia.
Another nasty thing
The interlocutor also draws attention to the presence of clephedrone in the total mass of drugs, which is not so common on the black market in Russia.
—Clephedrone is a synthetic psychostimulant from the group of cathinones, chemically close to mephedrone,— Ruslan Isaev, a psychiatrist and narcologist, president of the Independent Narcological Guild, told Izvestia. — The mechanism of action of clephedrone is to block the reuptake of the main neurotransmitters — dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin.
The danger of clephedrone is associated with its high neurotoxicity and the rapid development of severe consequences.: severe exhaustion of the body due to lack of sleep and nutrition; anxiety, irritability, aggression, depression; paranoia, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts; severe withdrawal with insomnia, tremor, nausea, headache; risk of severe psychosis, cardiovascular complications, seizures.
Dependence on clephedrone develops very quickly, and the toxicity of the substance makes it especially dangerous even with single doses. Therefore, treatment for clephedrone is carried out only in a drug treatment facility.
According to Izvestia's source in the police's anti-drug unit, the formula for clephedrone differs from mephedrone. Like other designer drugs, it was created to circumvent the law, but today it is already included in the list of prohibited substances.
The cartel is in charge
— A criminal case has been opened under Part 4 of Article 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Drug smuggling committed by an organized group on an especially large scale"), — lawyer Ekaterina Krasnova explained to Izvestia. — The maximum penalty for this crime is life imprisonment.
The Izvestia source says that this large shipment is linked to international drug cartels.
— Moldova is used as a transit point for the supply of prohibited substances to Russia, which is explained by the convenient geographical location of the country and rather weak customs control at the European border, — says the source. — It is assumed that the drugs could have been produced in one of the countries of Europe or North Africa, and Moldova turned into a transshipment point before being shipped to Russia.
Renaissance of the Russian-Moldovan drug channel
Over the past decades, Moldova has become one of the points used by drug syndicates for the transit of illicit substances to Eastern European countries and Russia. The authorities of the republic have repeatedly stated about the growth of drug crime, and international experts have noted that the dire economic situation in the country contributes to the involvement of local residents in illegal business.
According to a law enforcement source, the key routes for drug delivery are highways through Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic States.
The scheme usually involves fictitious transport companies registered to citizens of Moldova or other CIS countries. The investigation is aimed at identifying all links in the chain: from drug manufacturers to smuggling coordinators, couriers and final recipients of cargo.
Within the framework of international cooperation, Russia, Moldova and other countries previously conducted a joint fight against drug trafficking, but in recent years, in the wake of anti-Russian hysteria in Europe, joint work has been curtailed.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
