Vilnius was flooded with drugs from the USA: “A new generation of criminals who do not treat it as a crime”

The Customs Criminal Service (MKT) completed the pre-trial investigation into the smuggling of a large amount of drugs from the United States of America (USA) and their distribution in the capital, more information is provided by the customs on Thursday afternoon, as promised the day before.

There has been an increase in intercepted shipments of cannabis

According to the MKT announcement, the drugs smuggled from the USA to Lithuania were mainly distributed in Vilnius, where several groups of individuals operated and coordinated their actions.

According to the customs representatives, the officers encountered a new generation of criminals who do not treat their actions as a crime.

The entire beginning of the investigation began in 2023

“As you know, drug smuggling is a global phenomenon that we also face in our country. And customs is responsible for reducing the supply of drugs, along with other law enforcement agencies. The whole beginning of the investigation began in 2023, in May, when shipments from the United States with cannabis were detected at the customs during the control. That number of detections intensified over the years and later reached a very high number of 40 percent. of all interceptions from total intercepted consignments.

In response to the situation, we started a pre-trial investigation. During the investigation, what did we encounter, what did we find? We have established that in fact these are not individual shipments or individuals, but there are several groups of individuals who, coordinating their actions and planning them, send drugs to Lithuania from third countries and then distribute them in Lithuania, Vilnius and the vicinity of Vilnius.

The quantities of drugs sent should be mentioned – from half a kilogram to several kilograms and more,” said Arūnas Ivoška, ​​head of the Narcotics Control Department of the MKT.

Young Lithuanians followed the conspiracy

The pre-trial investigation, which lasted almost a year, was led by the Vilnius District Prosecutor’s Office, during which the officials announced that they had conducted dozens of searches.

At the moment, we have served notices of suspicion on eight individuals

“At the moment, we have served notices of suspicion to eight persons. Four of them have been given remand measures – arrests for different periods of time. For some, milder measures are intended – taking documents, registering with the police.

Shipments from the USA were noticed, started to be intercepted a year ago and increased, their peak occurred around October.

The persons are all quite young – 18-20 years old. One is a little older. Persons without convictions, unemployed. Some of them are students, some of them committed criminal acts when they were still minors.

Among individuals there are those who qualify for 10-12 episodes. Others have less. There are those who bought that drug, a small amount. Others are also accused of large amounts. Sending a shipment of four and a half kilos of cannabis is hardly worth it. Other persons participated episodically – picking up the package. Individuals sought to avoid responsibility. Those who ordered did not come to pick up the package themselves. They used to send other, unknown or little-known persons to pick up the package for 50 or 100 euros,” said Vilnius District Prosecutor Gedvydas Vaivada.

As Arūnas Ivoška, ​​the head of the Narcotics Control Department of the MKT, said, the suspects who downloaded the drugs and possibly engaged in their distribution followed a conspiracy.

Shipments were ordered on the “dark internet” and paid for in cryptocurrency

“The parcels were disguised with various household items – clothes, household items. It was not written on the packages that it was cannabis. It was masked all the time.

Confronted with conspiratorial elements such as the absence of physical contact. Parcels were ordered on the “dark internet”, paid for in crypto-currency, collected from post machines, avoiding physical contact as much as possible. When drugs were brought to Lithuania in shipments, the second stage took place – drug distribution in the city and the vicinity of Vilnius.

The method of distribution itself used to be that the drugs were hidden in certain places, marking the location and sending the coordinates via social networks such as Telegram to the buyer. Places were specially marked to make it easier to find the product and pick it up from the place. They hid it in the ground, buried it. Near the buildings. Again, it’s about that lack of contact. If some graffiti was painted in the area, the seller would give it to the buyer as a link to where to look,” said A. Ivoška.

Do not consider your actions as a crime

In total, about 34 kg of drugs were seized, mostly cannabis. Also a small amount of cocaine and psychotropic mushrooms. Their value on the black market can reach around 900,000 euros. All suspects are Lithuanians.

“This is a generation that does not value this crime as a crime, but as a business, as an adventure. This is a technology generation. It’s not a lack of understanding of what people are doing. Individuals are well versed in the methods of operation of the police, customs and criminal service. They even discuss them in their conversations, discuss sanctions and understand everything perfectly. They are trying to avoid all that,” said G. Vaivada.