Ukrainian-controlled drug lab busted in Moscow Region – FSB

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has carried out a successful raid in Moscow Region, busting a drug laboratory controlled by Ukrainian nationals.

In a statement on Wednesday, the agency said that the operation targeted an underground facility producing particularly large quantities of synthetic drugs located in the Shatura district around 140km east of Moscow. It noted that several people had been arrested, but did not give an exact number.

The FSB said that its operatives had received information about “contactless sales” of drugs via the internet which were organized in the interests of an online store managed by Ukrainian citizens.

The agency looked into the matter and identified “active participants of an organized criminal group as people of Ukrainian origin,” while finding evidence that their illegal operations were systemic.

As a result of the raid, the suspects were caught red-handed, with operatives seizing at least 57kg of N-methylephedrone, an addictive drug that causes euphoria and can also induce headaches and bouts of paranoia. FSB agents also confiscated four tons of a narcotic-containing liquid, as well as laboratory equipment and precursors required for drug production, according to the statement.

The suspects were also charged with drug production on an especially large scale, a crime that can carry a life sentence, the FSB added.

A video released by the agency shows armed agents storming a one-story house in the countryside, with the building crammed with large canisters and jerrycans apparently containing chemicals.

The FSB has frequently carried out similar major anti-drug operations. In May, the security service confiscated almost 500kg of Latin American cocaine in Russia’s western Smolensk Region which was on its way to Poland.