Two 18-year-old friends held in Tiraspol over cannabis stashes
Tiraspol criminal investigation officers detained two 18-year-old friends who, the Interior Ministry press centre said, had spent about a month placing stashes of hashish and marijuana around the city for an online curator and face up to 20 years in prison. One of them had recently left prison after an earlier conviction, and the ministry said both admitted the trade.
Criminal investigation officers in Tiraspol detained two 18-year-old friends on
suspicion of spreading drugs, the Interior Ministry press centre said.[1]
The Interior Ministry press centre said the two had spent about a month placing
cannabis stashes, known locally as zakladki, around Tiraspol.[1]They found
the work on the internet, and one of the pair had a previous conviction and had
been released from prison shortly before.[1]According to the ministry, that
young man kept in contact with the curator and stayed on watch while his friend
placed stashes or collected a master stash.[1]
An officer from the Oktyabrsky district police department said the suspect
received an image of coordinates through the Telegram messenger and the hidden
drugs were then distributed in the city without contact.[1]
The ministry said both admitted the illegal trade once officers detained them.[1]The pair face up to 20 years in prison for drug dealing.[1]
Photos and video
Handout photo captioned 'Друзья-закладчики' (friends working as zakladchiki), published with the Interior Ministry press centre's account of the two detentions in Tiraspol. Photo: пресс-центр МВД ПМРPhoto details
No date is given for the detention; 14 March 2026 is the date of the first account (22:03) and is used as the incident date, with the next day's report following.
Neither the report nor the ministry statement gives the weight or number of the hashish and marijuana stashes, or a value estimate.
No charge was specified beyond the ministry's wording on drug distribution, and the up to 20 years is the penalty a drug-dealing charge can carry, not a sentence.
The pair are identified only by their age; no court outcome or measure of restraint was reported.
The account reproduces the Interior Ministry press centre statement, so no independent reporting of the detention was confirmed.
The page photo is captioned only 'Друзья-закладчики' and credited to the ministry press centre; it is not clear whether it is a still from the accompanying ministry video or a separate photograph.
A Tiraspol news outlet carried the same ministry statement on 14 March under the headline about criminal investigation officers detaining friends working as zakladchiki, but its page could not be read in full because it was served in a legacy encoding.
Four Chisinau students aged 19-22 were detained in Comrat for allegedly selling marijuana to fellow students. A court placed all four in preventive arrest for 30 days while trafficking charges carrying 15-17 years are investigated.
Police in Chișinău held a 25-year-old man for 72 hours after his Ford struck two pedestrians on a crossing on Grigore Vieru Boulevard on 10 November 2026, killing a woman of about 30. Tests found amphetamine, methamphetamine, PVP and cannabis in his body, and he held no driving licence.
Capital Police in Chișinău detained 10 people over the past week and are handling 19 drug cases after seizing PVP, hashish, marijuana and mephedrone. Patrol officers separately caught 13 people with prohibited substances and consumption devices, drawing up 26 contravention reports.
Police in Chisinau detained two 17-year-olds suspected of acting as couriers and storekeepers for hashish sold through Telegram. Searches at their homes seized hashish valued at about 50,000 lei, which police say was meant for stashes around the city.
