Mephedrone lab network uncovered in Almaty’s private houses

An organized criminal group involved in the production and sale of drugs has been dismantled in Almaty, Orda.kz reports.

Law enforcement officers found that three drug laboratories were operating in private houses in the city. Psychotropic substances in especially large quantities were produced there daily.

«Law enforcement officers stopped the laboratories’ operations and detained seven members of the organized criminal group,» the Prosecutor General’s Office reported. 

The organizer has been placed on an international wanted list. The remaining participants were found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in prison.

Previously, in the Kyzylorda Region, investigators established that over the course of a year a group of suspects laundered more than 600 million tenge obtained from drug sales through various Telegram channels. The total turnover across crypto wallets via Binance exceeded 1.88 billion tenge. The money was laundered through «drop» cards registered to foreign nationals, after which it was used to buy real estate and cars and to build a restaurant.

Original author: Saule Abdykamit