Prosecutors from the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), together with anti-drug officers from the National Investigation Inspectorate (INI) and the Directorate General for Prosecution (DGUP) of the Police, have dismantled a drug dealing network and detained a man and his concubine, from whom they seized about 1.9 kg of drugs,a statement said on Wednesday, March 15.

“According to estimates, on the black market this quantity of PVP-type drugs (white or pink crystals, called “salt”, which can cause paranoia or hallucinations that can also lead to self-mutilation of the consumer) would have been sold by the suspects at a price of about 1.2 million lei.

Since the beginning of 2022, they had been smuggling them from Ukraine in unattended parcels and then selling them in an internet shop.

The two – both from Chisinau, the woman aged 24 and the man aged 34 – rented an apartment in a luxury neighbourhood of Chisinau to disguise their criminal activity,” the authorities said.

According to law enforcement officers, they were monitored for three months and “on 3 March 2023 they were detained while placing the drugs in hiding places, from where they were to be picked up by clients”. At the request of PCCOCS prosecutors, the man was placed under 30 days’ pre-trial detention and the woman under house arrest. “The prosecutors will appeal the decision to the Chisinau Court of Appeal and will request the application of preventive arrest to ensure the success of the investigations and bring them to criminal responsibility.”

As a result of the searches, in addition to the drugs seized and the accessories for their sale, law enforcement officers also seized “a luxury car valued at 400,000 lei”. At the request of the PCCOCS prosecutors, the car was seized for possible confiscation.