Estonia: Men who smuggled large amount of fentanyl to Viru Prison handed jail sentences

TALLINN – On October 30 three years ago, two greetings cards arrived at Viru Prison with a large amount of brown powder hidden inside, which an expert assessment determined to be fentanyl, and the two men who attempted it were handed jail sentences this summer, the Estonian daily Postimees reports.

A few days before October 30, Sergei Martychenko and Mihhail Abapolov had agreed that the former will acquire fentanyl, which Abapolov in turn will mail to an inmate by post.

Abapolov, who had been released from prison only a few days earlier, put the fentanyl in small paper leaflets and hid them in postcards, which had been made three-layered with double face tape. The double face tape on both greetings cards had a cache containing a substance that could have intoxicated approximately 100 people.

Abapolov, who hid the fentanyl in the postcards, on July 16 of this year was handed a conditional sentence of four years and eight months with a probation period of five years, during which the convicted offender must fulfill prescribed control requirements and responsibilities.

Martychenko, who during the ruling was already carrying a real jail sentence of nine years, three months and 29 days for previous drug crimes, was handed three months as aggregate punishment.

The ruling entered into force on August 1.