A 19-year-old Ukrainian citizen described as an active member of a group smuggling drugs into Moldova and selling them through online stores was arrested for 30 days.[1] Officers of the Anti-Drug Directorate and the analytical investigations directorate of the National Inspectorate of Investigations, together with criminal investigators of the Riscani Police Inspectorate and prosecutors of the Chisinau Prosecutor’s Office’s Riscani branch, documented his activity.[1] Investigators established that he had arrived in Moldova in 2022 and rented an apartment that he adapted as a drug warehouse.[1]

He received various types of drugs from Ukraine, repackaged them into smaller doses of 100 to 1,000 grams and placed them in hiding places where other dealers collected them for sale through smaller online stores.[1] After he was caught in the act, searches of the car he was driving and his rented home recovered small-scale scales and mobile phones used in the offence, along with 10 kg of marijuana buds, 1.5 kg of mephedrone, 700 grams of PVP salt and more than 300 Ecstasy tablets.[1] The same search is also reported as finding 10 kg of marijuana with 1.5 kg of mephedrone, 700 g of salt and more than 300 Ecstasy tablets in the apartment.[2]

Police said the drugs taken out of circulation were worth more than 3.5 million lei on the black market.[1] The offence carries 7 to 15 years’ imprisonment under the law in force.[1]