Border Police drug officers working with PCCOCS prosecutors detained four people from Chișinău and southern Moldova over a marijuana capture, the prosecutors being the Procuratura pentru Combaterea Criminalității Organizate și Cauze Speciale.[1] The four detained men were aged between 34 and 45.[1] Two Chișinău residents were caught in the act after repeatedly selling drugs to an undercover agent.[1] The other two, from the south of the country, were detained over the cultivation of the plants the Chișinău men received from them.[2] Radio Moldova reported that four people from Chișinău and the south of the country were arrested in the case.[3]

Officials said one detained man works as a dental technician, one as a restaurant cook, one as an IT specialist, and the fourth is a defendant in another drug-trafficking case PCCOCS prosecutors have already sent to court.[1] Border Police valued the marijuana taken out of circulation at about 2,500,000 lei on the black market.[1] Radio Moldova put the seized marijuana at roughly 2.5 million lei and said it had been grown in Chișinău, Comrat, Basarabeasca and Leova.[3] Realitatea.md reported that the marijuana was taken out of circulation in Chișinău, Comrat, Basarabeasca and Leova.[2] The marijuana plants were grown both in greenhouses and in spots adapted for the purpose in forest belts near the border.[1]

The searches also recovered feminised cannabis seeds, genetically modified to make cultivation easier, that had been smuggled out of the European Union.[1] At PCCOCS’s request, Chișinău district court judges at the Ciocana seat ordered all four held in pretrial detention for 30 days.[1] Radio Moldova reported that all four were placed in custody for 30 days at the prosecution’s request.[3] Investigations continued, and the four retained the presumption of innocence.[1]