Poland’s largest crystal-meth lab busted in police raids
Largest crystal-meth lab in Polish history busted in police raids
14:46, 30.08.2024
ew/rl; PAP
Largest crystal-meth lab in Polish history busted in police raids Police have carried out Poland’s largest ever drugs bust in a series of raids across Poland and Ukraine.
Police have carried out Poland’s largest ever drugs bust in a series of raids across Poland and Ukraine.
The operation involved Poland’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBSP) and Ukraine’s Department for Combating Drug Crime. (Photo: CBSP/YouTube screen grab)
In a joint operation involving Poland’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBSP) and Ukraine’s Department for Combating Drug Crime, officers seized nearly 200 kg of synthetic opioids from 38 locations and arrested seven cartel members in both countries.
A dramatic video posted online shows armed police carrying out the raids, which include the arrest of a woman.
In one scene, the bloodied hands of a man in handcuffs can be seen.
A CBSP statement on Friday said that officers had “carried out the largest operation in the history of European law enforcement agencies aimed at combating the production of synthetic opioids.
“As part of the operation, the largest synthetic opioid laboratory in Poland, where methadone in crystalline form was produced, was liquidated, as well as eight multi-laboratories in Poland and Ukraine, where synthetic cathinones were produced.
“In total, 38 places were entered. Methadone is an extremely dangerous substance used in medicine as a painkiller and in the treatment of opiate addiction, while the substance produced by the cartel [in Poland and Ukraine] was in a concentrated crystalline form, which is only found on the illegal drug market.”
In other footage released by the police, armed officers are seen breaking down a gate to a large house where further arrests are made, and the interior of labs littered with crystal meths and drug-making distilleries.
The CBSP statement said that the 195 kg of seized crystal methsmeth could have been “fatal for nearly 4,000,000 adults.”
