Scheme with anabolic substances worth over 1,000,000 euros destructured in Moldova

Chisinau, 30 March /MOLDPRES/ - A scheme with anabolic substances worth over 1,000,000 euros, illegally sent to EU, has been destructured and 11 people were detained following an operation of Moldovan and Romanian prosecutors and customs officers.   

According to the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Causes (PCCOCS), on 29 March, institution’s prosecutors, jointly with officers of the Customs Service, based on a joint group of investigations set up with the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism of Romania (DIICOT), EUROPOL, and with the support of EUROJUST, carried out 37 searches in Moldova and Romania.    

Following these searches, law-enforcers discovered and raised 340,000 tablets containing diverse substances, 20,000 bottles with multiple doses of substances, 28,000 ampullas, 433 syringes, 8,500 labels, 6.5 kg of active powder, 46 litres of liquid active substances and 100 kg of microcrystalline cellulose. Also, they raised the sums of 47,000 euros, 42,000 Romanian lei, 193,000 Moldovan lei, 15,800 dollars, as well as eight luxury watches, five touring cars, 2 wallets with crypto coins, 25 mobile phones and 17 bank cards.         

Law-enforcers say that the crime ring set up a clandestine laboratory for the fabrication of products which contain doping substances with high degree of risk, and the entire scheme is led by a graduate of the Pharmacy Faculty from Moldova.    

The precursors needed for the fabrication of the products which contain doping substances were brought to Romania through parcels dispatched from China. After the reception of the active substance, the members of the crime ring fabricated the products in the clandestine lab, and afterwards they sent the finished products to consumers of such substances from Romania and the European Union.   

Starting from the second half of the 2021 year, the crime ring members sent parcels, from which they got at least 1,000,000 euros – a sum invested in assets from Moldova. Initially, they were making the products in Moldova and were sending them through contraband to Romania and then they transferred their work in Romania.

As a result of the actions carried out, 11 people were detained for 24 hours and law-enforcers submitted approaches on the enforcement of the preventive arrest against them. Four of these persons have dual citizenship; one has only the citizenship of Moldova and six – of Romania.