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Investigative reporter taken into custody in Moscow on drug trafficking charges

According to police, the journalist was carrying several packages containing 4 grams of mephedrone

© Valeriy Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, June 7. /TASS/. An investigative correspondent from the Riga-based Meduza online newspaper Ivan Golunov has been detained in Moscow on suspicion of drug dealing, his lawyer Dmitry Dzhulai told TASS on Friday.

On Thursday, the journalist, 36, was hauled off in downtown Moscow and taken to a local police station on charges of illegally producing, selling and transporting drugs. According to police, Golunov was carrying several packages containing 4 grams of mephedrone, a synthetic stimulant drug.

"He carried mephedrone, but we believe that they had planted the package containing this substance on him," the attorney said, explaining that this could occur at the moment when his client was confronted by the police.

According to the attorney, the police physically assaulted his client and denied him the right to a lawyer. However, a police spokesman later rejected the claims that the journalist was beaten during his detention.

Now the journalist is in a police department in southwestern Moscow. The investigator plans to ask the court to arrest the journalist on Friday.

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