Moldovan police and prosecutors detained two 17-year-old students from Fălești on suspicion of drug trafficking after searches at flats they rented in Bălți.[1] The searches recovered about 0.5 kg of marijuana, drug-use equipment and bags used for selling doses.[2] Officers also seized about 1.5 kg of PVP, known locally as “salt”, a synthetic stimulant that is outside the cannabis seizure figures here.[1] TV8 reported that police put the combined value of the seized drugs at 1.5 million lei.[3]

Officers from the National Investigations Inspectorate’s northern directorate and the PCCOCS prosecutor’s office took part, according to police.[2] One suspect was caught in the act with a spade and drugs he had just dug up from a cache at a location given by other members of the group, to divide into smaller amounts for clients.[1] Police said he had already sold drugs to undercover officers, evidence attached to the criminal case.[2] The second suspect was detained after the searches, and both were placed in pre-trial detention in Bălți at the request of PCCOCS prosecutors.[2]

Police said the pair were instructed by other members of an organised criminal group to change flats every three or four days to hide the activity.[2] They arranged sales with clients through Telegram, police said.[3] One suspect was in the tenth grade and the other studied at a secondary vocational school, according to police.[1] Police said the investigation continued into other members of the group, while the two suspects kept the presumption of innocence.[2]