MOSCOW, February 17 (RIA Novosti) - Officers from
Russia's interior ministry have uncovered an international drug
trafficking gang involved in smuggling cocaine from Brazil to
Russia, Russia's deputy interior minister said on Tuesday.
The international operation to net the drug traffickers
was launched in April 2007, after Russia received information
from German law enforcement agencies on the drug supply ring.
The gang hid the cocaine in steel buttons, each of which
contained around 3 grams, before sending the drug consignment
through international post.
"Three Nigerians and a Russian woman are currently under
arrest," Nikolai Ovchinnikov said. "The [gang's] annual
turnover stood at over $1 million."
The suspects face charges of smuggling, drug trafficking,
money laundering, forgery and organizing a criminal gang. All
of them have previous convicts for drug trafficking.
The detainees are also suspected of trafficking women from
African states into Russia and forcing them into prostitution
in the Moscow Region.
In 2008 over 136,000 drug-related crimes were solved in
Russia with 12 tons of drugs seized.
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