Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry has dismantled an international channel that involved people in the drug trade. The large-scale special operation, which lasted more than a year, covered the territory of several states. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
Criminals, under the guise of legal employment, recruited call-center operators, HR managers, chemists, couriers, drug stashers, logisticians, and warehouse workers. They promised people easy money but in reality involved them in the international drug business.
Structure of the criminal organization
Roles in the criminal structure were clearly distributed. It was organized by a 36-year-old citizen of a neighboring state. Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry participated in all key stages of the operation, said Kuandyk Alzhanov, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Combating Drug Crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Kazakhstan.
Operation progress
During the documentation of criminal activity, 26 searches were conducted in call centers in Ukraine that were involved in recruiting people for illegal activities, and about four thousand digital pieces of evidence were seized. As a result of their analysis, 31 drug shops on Telegram, the organizers of the criminal scheme, and hundreds of involved individuals were identified. Ministry staff checked their involvement in drug distribution on the territory of Kazakhstan.
In May, another active phase of the operation took place. With the participation of representatives of Kazakhstan's Interior Ministry, 70 searches were conducted in Kyiv and Kyiv region, the activities of call centers involved in recruiting people for crimes were stopped, and 27 active members of the criminal community were identified.
In July, another 15 searches were conducted on the territory of Kazakhstan with the participation of representatives of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. Members of the network involved in drug sales in the country were detained.
Strict rules
There were strict rules within the criminal structure. People who tried to refuse criminal activity were fined, beaten, and illegally detained. Behind attractive job vacancies was the involvement of a person in the drug business, and once a person entered this business, they were not allowed to leave, noted Kuandyk Alzhanov.
Final stage
At the final stage of the operation, another 35 searches were conducted in five regions of Ukraine and Kyiv. Two links of the international network involved in recruiting citizens for crimes were eliminated. 24 kg of a mixture containing synthetic drugs, more than 3.5 thousand homemade cigarettes, and about two thousand packaged bags were seized.
Seven people were detained, and nine people were charged with involvement in the criminal scheme. The Interior Ministry urges citizens not to trust offers of easy money on the Internet. Behind attractive offers may be an international drug network.