Prosecutors from the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), together with anti-drug officers and officers of the General Directorate for Criminal Prosecution (DGUP) of the Police, detained three men and two women for drug trafficking, from whom drugs worth about 3,000,000 lei were seized.

The five members of the “organised criminal group” are three men and two women aged between 19 and 29. Three of them are from Chisinau, one woman from Tiraspol, and one defendant is from Ukraine, active in the music business as a lead singer in a rock band.

“Most of them had the role of drug delivery, during which time wearing a wig on their head was mandatory,” according to PCCOCS.

The facts would have their onset in late 2022, when a fourth-year student at a higher education institution would have started his work as a courier for an internet drug store.

“After being promoted to warehouse-packer, he rented an apartment in Chisinau so that his activity would not be exposed. And in order to facilitate his illegal work of placing drugs in hiding places for clients, he also bought a car,” PCCOCS officials said.

Later, he would expand his team after convincing his 19-year-old girlfriend to get involved in the group’s activities, as well as another 20-year-old. They would receive $1 for every packet of drugs they packed while the student was in class.

According to the PCCCOCS, the latter was detained while travelling to Chisinau to place the drugs in stash houses. Law enforcement officers found marijuana in his car, as well as two kilograms in his apartment, including cocaine, heroin, hashish, PVP, MMDA (powdered ecstasy), subutex and mephedrone. More than 20,000 lei allegedly from drug sales were also seized. Following investigation of his internet communication with customers, law enforcement officers seized half a kilogram of hashish and half a kilogram of methedrone from his stash.

The following day, two other accomplices of the three – a 28-year-old resident of the Transnistrian region and a 29-year-old citizen of Ukraine, who was working as a lead singer of a rock band – were detained.

“Within the organized criminal group, both acted as couriers after receiving the packaged drugs from the student. Subsequent to the searches, LSD, marijuana, hashish, ecstasy, hallucinogenic mushrooms and electronic cigarettes with cannabis oil were found on their persons,” PCCOCS also notes.

Following the searches and their detention, PCCOCS prosecutors requested and obtained the detention of the five for further objective investigation. The prosecution is continuing, during which time the suspects are presumed innocent by law.