Belarus busts EU-bound heroin batch worth over $50 million
Busted heroin in Minsk / A screenshot from Belarusian Police's video
Police in Belarus have seized what they are describing as "the largest batch of heroin busted" in the country's modern history, involving over 500 kilograms of the illegal drug.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Volha Chamadanava wrote on 23 December in Interior's Telegram channel that four people from "a Mediterranean nation," including a woman, had been arrested in Minsk in late November after law enforcement officers had confiscated 550 kilograms of heroin from them.
The arrested foreigners were part of an international criminal gang involved in illegal trafficking of narcotics from Afghanistan to the European Union via Belarus - the so-called 'northern route,' which passes through several former Soviet countries.
The operation was carried out by the agents from drug enforcement and trafficking in people unit assisted by police commandos.
The ministry also issued a video showing the arrest along with many packs of what appears to be a white substance hidden inside a wall in a rented warehouse in Minsk's southeastern Zavodzki district.
The confiscated batch of heroin costs over $50 million on the black market.
