Russia accounts for 80 percent of drug networks dismantled in Belarus in H1 – BelPol

November 15, Pozirk. BelPol, an association of former Belarusian law enforcers, has obtained a police report that suggests that officials made false claims, saying that most illicit drugs seized in Belarus have been smuggled from the European Union.

Russia is the main supplier of drugs and psychotropic substances to Belarus, BelPol said, citing the Belarusian interior ministry’s leaked analytical report.

Of 17 drug trafficking networks dismantled in Belarus in the first half of 2024, 14 involved drugs smuggled from Russia, the document said. Belarusian authorities also reportedly cracked down on three clandestine drug labs, two of which were located in Russia.

BelPol made the statement a week after Siarhiej Dubroŭski of the State Customs Committee told journalists that most seizures by customs officers involved illicit drugs and psychotropic substances smuggled from the EU to Russia via Belarus.

Since the start of 2024, Belarusian customs officers made more than 440 drug seizures, he said.

Two years ago, Siarhiej Haradziecki, deputy chief of the Main Directorate for Drug Control and Fight Against Human Trafficking, acknowledged that all major drug busts in 2022 involved illicit drugs smuggled from Russia. Police blocked 26 drug trafficking channels in the first 11 months of the year. All those channels were controlled by Russians, he said.

Since then, Belarusian officials have pointed to the EU as the main source of illicit drugs smuggled into Belarus in what appears to be a purposeful campaign to discredit the bloc.

Also read: Official: All seized drugs trafficked into Belarus through Russia