State Customs authorities of the Republic of Belarus
28 August 2025
The customs authorities of Belarus have cut off the international supply channel from the European Union to the territory of the Russian Federation for more than 637 kg of the highly dangerous psychotropic substance 4-SMS. Citizens of Lithuania, Belarus, Russia and Ukraine involved in the crime have been identified and detained.
The shipment arrived in Belarus from a Lithuanian warehouse via Latvia. It was imported in a SCANIA truck driven by a Belarusian, in which dishwashers were transported according to documents.
Vitebsk customs officers from the Grigorovshchyna checkpoint, as part of the use of the risk system, sent a heavy truck for inspection using the X-ray inspection complex. Based on the results of the scan, a decision was made to inspect the transported goods.
Foil envelopes were found inside household appliances. 540 such packages with prepackaged especially dangerous psychotropic substances of 1 and 1.5 kg were extracted. The expert confirmed that this is a 4-SMS.
Taking into account the fact that the truck was traveling further to the Russian Federation, an international operation was conducted to identify all participants in the criminal scheme together with the Federal Customs Service of Russia.
During the implementation of operational search measures and urgent investigative actions, Russian customs officers, in cooperation with the FSB of Russia, detained recipients of a large batch of psychotropic substances - citizens of Ukraine.
Another 162 kg of various drugs and psychotropic substances (hashish, mephedrone, MDMA, klephedrone, etc.) were found hidden on the territory of a private household and in the forests of the Moscow region.
A total of 800 kg of psychotropic substances and drugs seized by Belarusian and Russian customs officers would be enough for 3.1 million single doses. And the value of such a batch on the black market reaches 75 million US dollars.
Vitebsk Customs has opened a criminal case against a group of persons acting by prior agreement in accordance with Part 2 of Article 328-1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Belarus. The Central Operational Customs of the Federal Customs Service of Russia has initiated a criminal case under clauses "a" and "b" of Part 4 of Article 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The members of the criminal group face imprisonment for up to 20 years.
Related tags
#Наркотические средства #Незаконное перемещение #Витебская таможня
