MOSCOW. Nov 8 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained citizens of a Balkan country, Estonia and Russia in the Leningrad region for attempting to smuggle more than a tonne of cocaine worth over 3.5 billion rubles to the European Union, the FSB press center said in a statement on Friday.
"The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation dismantled a channel for smuggling Latin American cocaine to European Union states through Russian territory," it said.
A truck heading to Russia drew suspicion at the Russian-Latvian border, the statement said. An empty high-tech cache was found inside the vehicle.
"Round-the-clock monitoring over the vehicle helped establish its subsequent use for the transportation of narcotic drugs," it said.
Two citizens of a Balkan country were later detained red-handed in the Leningrad region while placing 984 cocaine bricks, each weighing 1 kilogram, into the cache inside the truck in order to smuggle them to an EU country, the statement said.
"It was also established that the foreigners tried to sell 20 kilograms of cocaine in Russia a few hours before their detention. To that end, they set up a cache in a forest in the Gatchina district of the Leningrad region and reported its coordinates to Russian drug dealers. A citizen of Estonia and two citizens of Russia were detained while removing the drugs from the cache," it said.
The total weight of the cocaine haul is over one tonne, the FSB said. Its wholesale price on the black market is more than 3.5 billion rubles.
The investigative department of the Russian FSB branch for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region has opened criminal cases against the five persons on a count of illegal production, sale or transportation of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or similar substances and on a count of illegal sale or transportation of plants containing narcotic or psychotropic substances or parts of plants containing narcotic or psychotropic substances.
The suspects have been remanded in custody as a restraining measure.
The FSB has not disclosed the suspects' identities or other details of the operation.