The Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) prosecutors have sent to the Brasov Tribunal the case concerning one of the largest synthetic drug laboratories in Romania, uncovered by police and prosecutors in June in the locality of Harman.
"Following investigative activities carried out in June by officers of the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime together with DIICOT prosecutors, criminal proceedings were continued and, on 24 November, four individuals were committed for trial on charges of forming an organised criminal group, international trafficking of high-risk drugs, domestic trafficking of high-risk drugs and attempted trafficking of high-risk drugs" informs a press release sent to AGERPRES on Friday by the General Inspectorate of the Romanian Police (IGPR).
Evidence gathered shows that in November 2024, under the leadership of a 64-year-old individual holding dual Romanian and Moldovan citizenship, an organised crime group was formed with the aim of introducing and distributing cocaine from Colombia on Romanian territory.
The cocaine was allegedly to be brought into the country 'under the cover' of plant imports, packaged in cardboard boxes impregnated with drugs.
In order to create the appearance of legitimate commercial activity and to test whether cocaine exports could be detected by law enforcement authorities in the countries through which the shipment would transit, the group leader allegedly instructed members to organise two flower transports to the Republic of Moldova and subsequently to Romania, in order to observe customs control procedures, the source said.
The organised crime group leader is said to have purchased cocaine in Colombia, which was impregnated into the cardboard boxes used to package the plants, disguising the drugs within an apparently lawful flower export carried out between the same commercial entities along a pre-established route.
The plants were stored in a warehouse in Harman, Brasov County, where their packaging was changed before being sent on to the Republic of Moldova.
A total of 603 cardboard boxes introduced into Romania in this manner, with a net weight of 252.116 kilogrammes and containing cocaine intended for sale on the Romanian market, were discovered during a house search carried out on 20 June.
At the same warehouse, which also housed a clandestine laboratory, investigators found reaction vessels and a steam generator used for mixing substances and producing synthetic drugs, as well as large quantities of chemical substances used in the manufacture of MDMA and amphetamines, including drug precursors such as sulphuric acid and PMK ethylglycidate, IGPR said.
Two Romanian citizens are currently in pre-trial detention, while preventive arrest warrants in absentia have been issued for two other suspects holding dual citizenship.
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