Russia said Friday it had arrested suspected members of a Colombian cartel trying to smuggle tens of millions of dollars worth of cocaine into Europe.
The suspects were caught loading 570 kilograms (1,250 pounds) of the illegal substance into a container intended for shipment to the European Union, according to Russia’s FSB security services.
The FSB said the smugglers brought the drugs into Russia from Peru hidden in a vehicle, and that they were members of Colombia’s infamous Cali cartel.
“570 kilograms of cocaine were seized, the wholesale value of which on the Russian black market is 1.5 billion rubles, the retail value exceeding 5.5 billion rubles ($55 million),” the FSB said in a statement on its website.
Colombia is the world’s biggest cocaine producer and exporter, mainly to the United States and Europe.
Last year, the South American country set a new record for cocaine production and cultivation of the coca leaf the drug is made from.
Russia has a zero tolerance policy towards drug use and smuggling, handing heavy sentences to those convicted of trafficking small amounts of narcotics.
Russian customs seized almost three tons of cocaine in the first nine months of the year, according to authorities.
“This is already the fifth batch of Latin American cocaine seized by security agencies this year on Russian territory, intended for further transit to EU countries,” the FSB said.
The Cali cartel controlled up to 80 percent of the cocaine trade to the United States at its peak in the mid-1990s, according to U.S. authorities. In 2022, the former head of the Cali cartel died in a prison in North Carolina.
The seizure of Europe-bound drugs by Russian authorities was announced one day after Portuguese police said they had dismantled “one of the largest” cocaine laboratories in Europe as part of an operation that led to seven arrests and the seizure of some 1,500 kilograms of the drug. The investigation was launched a year ago following information from Colombian, Spanish and U.S. authorities.
Last week, police in the Balkans arrested 11 alleged members of a criminal syndicate responsible for smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe. Among the people arrested was a suspect who is also wanted for his alleged membership in the notorious “Pink Panthers” jewel heist gang.
