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Moscow City court prolongs custody for 3 men suspected of smuggling cocaine

The investigators admit, however, that they have not identified all those involved in the scheme

MOSCOW, July 30. /TASS/. Moscow City court on Monday reaffirmed legitimacy of prolongation of custody to three suspects in a case over the supplies of a large batch of cocaine from Argentine to Russia, a TASS reporter said in a dispatch from the courtroom.

The suspects are Ishtimir Khudzhamov, Vladimir Kalmykov and Ali Abyanov. Somewhat earlier, Moscow’s Tverskoi district court prolonged the term in custody for the three them through to October 13.

"The July 11 resolution of the Tverskoi court will be left unchanged and the defenders’ appeal will not be entertained," the presiding judge said.

At the end of February, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia and Argentina’s law enforcement agencies had conducted a joint operation to plug a channel for supplies of a large consignment of drugs to the European market.

The ministry said the consignment with the total weight of 362 km had been found in one of the buildings occupied by the Russian Embassy in Buenos Aires. It belonged to a technical worker of the Embassy who had rounded up his mission to Argentina by that time.

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Testimony in Russian-Argentine cocaine case confirms defendants engaged in drug smuggling

A total of three persons - Kalmykov, Khudzhamov and Abyanov - were detained in the course of investigation in Russia, another two in Argentina and one more - the organizer of the criminal grouping, Andrei Kovalchuk - was detained in Germany.

The investigators admit, however, that they have not identified all the involved in the scheme.

Kovalchuk’s lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov told TASS earlier on Monday Germany had extradited Kovalchuk to Russia and he was kept at Matrosskaya Tishina pretrial detention center following the issuance of charges with drugs contraband to him.

Kovalchuk refused to give evidence citing Article 51 of Russian Constitution.

The suspects’ defenders asked the city court to call off the resolution of the district court and to mitigate the pretrial measure against them to house arrest or bail.

Also, Kalmykov, Khudzhamov and Abyanov said once again in the courtroom they were not guilty and they apportioned all the responsibility for the supply of coke to Kovalchuk.

Abyanov’s lawyer also recalled the results of expert tests done earlier, which showed the suitcases with the drug did not contain the trades or finger prints of either his defendant or Kalmykov or Khudzhamov.

The public prosecutor asked the Moscow City court to leave the resolution of the district court unchanged, saying it was legitimate and grounded.

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