Prague, July 10 (CTK) – The Czech National Drug Centre has exposed an international group that it says hired couriers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia to transport pervitin (metamphetamine) from Turkey and Armenia to Japan, the centre’s spokeswoman Barbora Kudlackova told CTK Friday.
She said detectives detained and accused seven people, three of them in the Czech Republic, the rest in other countries.
Kudlackova said the number of suspects may still increase.
The police say the pervitin originated in Iran where a gram of the substance can be bought for an equivalent of around 200 crowns, while in Japan, it fetches around 19,000 crowns.
The couriers, travelling in couples, flew to Turkey or Armenia where each of them got a specially adjusted case hiding around one kilogram of pervitine. They continue by plan to Tokyo.
There they were accommodated in a beforehand chosen hotel where they allegedly handed over the case with pervitin. The couriers were paid around 100,000 crowns per couple for the drug transport.
The police say people from Iran, Slovakia, Turkey and the Czech Republic are suspected in the case. That is why Czech police cooperated in the investigation with their counterparts from Armenia, Britain, Turkey and representatives from Europol and Interpol.
The three suspects detained in the Czech Republic have been accused of unauthorised production and other handling of narcotics and psychotropic substances and of poisons. If found guilty, they face up to 18 years in prison.
At the same time, the extradition of one of the main suspects for criminal proceedings to the Czech Republic is being decided.
Kudlackova said he is a Slovak who stayed in Britain where he was detained based on a European arrest warrant.
Three other people were arrested in Japan and in Turkey and all of them have already been convicted there, Kudlackova said.
In Japan, two couriers were sent to seven and ten years in prison for illegal imports of stimulants for profit.
In Turkey, a Slovak was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was detained when taking over a case with two kilograms of pervitin. He was the main suspect in the Czech Republic where he was organising the hiring of couriers for the above trips, Kudlackova said.
($1=24.528 crowns)
