Four held in Rīga over 9 kg of marijuana and a minor courier
On 17 and 18 March 2026 Latvian police arrested four people in Rīga who they say ran a large-scale marijuana and hashish trade, using hideouts and a 2009-born teenager as a courier; searches seized 9 kilograms of marijuana, 50 grams of hashish, €11,671 and three cars.
In March 2026 the State Police detained four people in Rīga over the acquisition, storage and
large-scale sale of marijuana and hashish, and over involving a minor in the trade.[1][2]
On 17 and 18 March officers from the Rīga criminal police, with technical support units, picked up
the group.[1][2]Police said one man born in 1993 organised sales through meetings and hideouts,
another man of the same birth year was caught at a storage site, and a man born in 2005 was
arrested in a Pierīga forest immediately after taking marijuana from a hideout.[1][2]
A teenager born in 2009 was used to hand drugs to buyers, police said.[1][2]Officers arrested him
after he tried to leave his home with 1.2 kilograms of packaged marijuana, vacuum-sealing equipment
and related items in a suitcase.[1][2]
Searches yielded 9 kilograms of marijuana, 50 grams of hashish, €11,671 and Volkswagen, Toyota and
BMW vehicles.[1][2]Criminal proceedings were opened for organised large-scale drug dealing and for
involving a minor in crime; police noted that guilt must still be proved in court.[1][2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Latvia's Economic Affairs Court will continue hearing witnesses on 4 December in the trial of nine people, among them Jurijs Spiridonovs, accused of producing marijuana in indoor plantations in Spain and selling it in Latvia and Norway. Prosecutors say the group, active from 2020 to autumn 2024, laundered its earnings through bank accounts and property in Riga; four defendants remain in custody.
Latvian police detained six members of a Latvian-Lithuanian group that hid drugs in barrels buried in forests near Riga, with two more members directing activity from prison. Officers found about 36 kg of mixed drugs including marijuana and hashish plus 34 THC devices, and a court remanded five suspects in custody.
Latvian police arrested six people in an organised dealing group between 14 and 17 September 2026 in Rīga’s Ķengaraga district and Ādaži, seizing about 2 kilograms of cannabis along with cocaine, amphetamine and other drugs after eleven searches; three suspects were remanded in custody.
Latvian police and Spanish counterparts found 49.4 kg of marijuana hidden in a dried-fruit shipment meant for Latvia. Five people were detained in Kurzeme in June and August 2023, and four were remanded while investigations continued.
