8 laboratories, dozens of searches: drug network busted during special operation in Poland and Ukraine

Polish and Ukrainian law enforcement officers conducted a large-scale international special operation to eliminate a transnational organized criminal group that was engaged in the production and sale of synthetic drugs on an industrial scale. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.

Details

As the investigation established, the criminal group included two citizens of Ukraine and a citizen of Latvia, who organized a network of underground laboratories in both countries. In particular, a laboratory was liquidated in Poland where crystalline methadone was produced.

Also, 8 multi-laboratories were liquidated in Poland and Ukraine, where particularly dangerous narcotic drugs - methadone, mephedrone, and Alpha-PVP - were simultaneously produced.

In total, 38 searches were conducted at places of manufacture and storage of drugs, chemical reagents, and equipment used for synthesis. Large batches of finished narcotic drugs and laboratory equipment, as well as weapons, communication devices, and cash, were also seized.

In addition, operatives discovered and seized a large batch of precursors – substances that were used during synthesis to obtain another, integral substance, which is the drug.

Three suspects were charged under Part 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal production and sale of narcotic drugs committed by an organized group). The sanction of the article provides for imprisonment for a term of 9 to 12 years with confiscation of property. All three suspects have been taken into custody, and the indictment has been sent to court.

Recall

Earlier, UNN reported that Ukrainian law enforcement officers liquidated a drug smuggling channel, seizing cocaine worth almost 7 million hryvnias. The organizer was a resident of Lviv, who involved international drivers in transporting drugs, which were then sold in Ukraine.