TALLINN - Police have arrested seven men on suspicion of being part of an international drugs and firearms organized crime ring.
The men are accused of handling narcotic substances with a street value of about 10 million kroons (640,000 euros). The bust is one of the biggest of its kind that the country has seen in recent years.
The men were tracked down as part of a large scale international investigation into illegal weapons and narcotics which involved 40 police and customs officers in different European countries.
According to the indictment from the Public Prosecutor's Office, the accused attempted to smuggle narcotic substances in large amounts from Latvia to Estonia and from Estonia to Russia.
Three of the accused have been identified by their first name only 's Andrei, Sergei and Igor, aged between 44 and 31. The three allegedly acquired the drugs in Riga in September 2007. They were stopped at the Ikla border checkpoint.
According to the prosecutor's office, last November three other men obtained 30 kilograms from Sergei, the ring leader. The plan was to sell the drugs in Russia.
Security police and the central criminal police department have been investigating the gang since 2006.
Most if not all the men are ethnic Russians but it is not known at this stage whether Russian authorities helped their Estonian counterparts with information that led to the capture of the gang.
Public Prosecutor Margus Kurm said the investigation will end in the next few months and the criminal network has been broken. "In all, more than 20 people are awaiting trial," he said.
Prosecutors claim that the group handled 700 kilograms of drugs, including large amounts of the soft drugs hashish and marijuana and harder drugs such as ecstasy and cocaine.
Investigators say the gang was active throughout the European Union. The gang's activities have led to the seizure of approximately 205 kilograms of hashish, 28 kilograms of marijuana and four kilograms of cocaine.
Prosecutors claim the gang was also involved in the manufacture of a type of ketone which is used to make amphetamines.
Police also seized 4.5 million illegal cigarettes, 103 submachine guns, eight other firearms and more than 4,000 rounds of ammunition.
