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Russia’s FSB shuts down one of the largest online drug trafficking stores

A total of $10 mln worth of drugs were seized

© Vitaliy Nevar/TASS

MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has exposed a drug trafficking group that ran one of the largest online drug trafficking stores, the FSB said in a statement.

"Russia’s Federal Security Service has carried out a multi-stage special operation, exposing an organized criminal group involved in major drug trafficking schemes based on Internet technologies," the statement reads.

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According to the FSB, 440 kilograms of drugs, including MDMA, alpha-PVP, mephedrone and hashish, worth a total of 650 mln rubles ($10.1 mln) were seized during a large-scale operation conducted in ten Russian regions (Tver, Voronezh, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Orenburg, Saratov, Tyumen, Tomsk and Chelyabinsk).

"Seven of the store’s staff members, who acted as regional drug couriers, were caught red-handed," the statement adds. "Two of them were responsible for delivering large shipments of drugs (150-300 kilograms) from Moscow and St. Petersburg to big cities in the Central, Volga, Ural and Siberian Federal Districts, while others oversaw wholesale drug trafficking in specific regions," the FSB specified.

The FSB has opened seven criminal cases under Article 228.1.5 of the Russian Criminal Code (illegal production, sale and transportation of drugs). The detained have been taken in custody. An investigation is underway.

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