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Lithuanian authorities have uncovered one of the largest synthetic drugs laboratories in the Baltics, seizing hundreds of kilograms of drugs and thousands of litres of chemical precursors at a site near Vilnius allegedly run by a Dutch national of Turkish origin.
“[Drugs] were being produced on an almost industrial scale,” Saulius Briginas, Deputy Chief of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau, told journalists during a press briefing on Wednesday.
Investigators believe the Dutch citizen organised the laboratory's work and coordinated its illegal activities alongside three other members who were all Lithuanian nationals.
Preliminary figures indicate that police recovered more than 3,000 litres of BMK, a chemical precursor used in the production of amphetamines; more than 500kg of methamphetamine; more than 300kg of amphetamine; and around 4.5kg of the synthetic cathinone 3-CMC. This amounts to over 4 million single doses, Briginas said.
“On the wholesale illicit market, the drugs would be worth more than €2 million,” he said. “At street level, the value could be ten times higher.”
Such figures, Lithuanian authorities believe, indicate that the drugs could not have been intended solely for the Lithuanian market.
Instead, the operation was geared towards markets across Europe, with the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic among the countries to which the drugs may have been destined.
The investigation also uncovered the industrial-scale procurement of chemicals needed to manufacture synthetic drugs. The group sourced laboratory equipment and chemical substances from China, India and several European countries, while also purchasing some uncontrolled substances from specialist suppliers in Lithuania.
Police found 380 cylinders of hydrogen originating from China at the laboratory. Hydrogen is used in the manufacture of synthetic drugs, while sulphuric acid was reportedly purchased in quantities of one tonne per transaction.
The operation extended beyond the laboratory itself. Police intercepted a shipment intended for the Czech Republic after finding 17kg of amphetamine crystals in two plastic containers inside cargo handled by a Lithuanian logistics company.
Under Lithuanian law, offences involving the illegal production, possession and smuggling of particularly large quantities of narcotic or psychotropic substances can carry prison sentences of up to 18 years.