Saint Petersburg, July 1 (IANS) Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday that it had seized about 500 kg of cocaine concealed inside frozen tuna imported from Ecuador at the port of St. Petersburg.
The cocaine was discovered in a cargo container carrying legally imported frozen whole tuna at a container terminal in the port, said the FSB.
It said the shipment route is part of a trafficking net used to smuggle large quantities of cocaine from Latin America into Russia for distribution, Xinhua news agency reported.
A Russian citizen suspected of organising international smuggling has been detained, according to the service.
While searching the suspect’s residence, authorities also seized digital storage devices containing cryptocurrency wallets with electronic assets of about 613,000 US dollars, 13 luxury watches valued at more than 1.3 million dollars, and five luxury vehicles worth at least 1.65 million dollars.
Investigators have opened a criminal case over the attempted trafficking of narcotic drugs on an especially large scale.
Meanwhile, police officers in the Kizlyar District of Dagestan disrupted a trafficking route for illegally harvested aquatic biological resources, seizing more than 230 kg of sturgeon, Russia’s leading Tass news agency reported citing the regional State Traffic Inspectorate.
“State Traffic Inspectorate officers stopped a Gazelle van driven by a 39-year-old resident of the Babayurt district for inspection. During an inspection of the luggage compartment, police discovered 233 kg of sturgeon,” read a statement from the regional State Traffic Inspectorate, Tass reported.
It noted that, according to the results of the examination, among the seized fish was Russian sturgeon, listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation. “A comprehensive investigation is currently underway into this incident, and all the circumstances of the incident are being established,” the republic’s State Traffic Inspectorate stated.
–IANS
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