Discovery of drugs in Russian narcotics watchdog employees' car being probed
MOSCOW. Nov 5 (Interfax) - A criminal investigation was opened after a large haul of marijuana and cocaine was found in a car carrying two employees of the Russian Federal Drug Control Service, Moscow investigators' spokesman Sergei Stukalov told Interfax on Tuesday.
"Investigators believe that the aforementioned narcotic substances were being transported in this car illegally. A criminal case was launched on counts of illegal possession of large amounts of drugs (Article 229 of the Russian Penal Code)," he said.
A preliminary inquiry currently is under way into the inadequate behavior of two drug control service officers, who were found sitting inside a car parked in northern Moscow, Stukalov said.
Apart from the drugs stored in a sealed container, two small plastic bags - "one containing over ten grams of marijuana and another filled with 17 grams of a cocaine-containing mixture" - were confiscated by police from their car, he said.
"Investigative measures are now being taken to establish all circumstances surrounding the incident, including the reasons why they acquired and transported these narcotic substances," he said.
A source in law enforcement agencies told Interfax earlier that two Federal Drug Control Service employees in critical condition were found in a car in northern Moscow late on November 2. Both were admitted to the hospital.
Twenty-eight kilograms of drugs were confiscated from the car.
The Moscow branch of the Federal Drug Control Service subsequently reported that the officers were transporting a previously seized drug haul.
A search operation was launched after the officers failed to return to their workplace on time.