Lithuanian Police Dismantle Secret Drug Lab With Over 500 kg of Methamphetamine

Lithuania's Criminal Police Bureau has announced the discovery of a secret drug laboratory in Vilnius District. Officers found more than 500 kilograms of methamphetamine, 300 kilograms of amphetamine, roughly 4.5 kilograms of synthetic cathinones and about 3,000 litres of the drug precursor BMK. Police described the site as one of the largest illegal laboratories ever found in Lithuania and the Baltic states, calling the scale of production unprecedented in the region.

Quantity and value

Preliminary estimates suggest the seized drugs amount to more than four million single doses. Police put their wholesale value at over two million euros, while the retail value could be about ten times higher. Around 200,000 euros in cash was also seized at the laboratory.

During the operation, police also intercepted a consignment at a Lithuanian logistics company that was due to be delivered to the Czech Republic. It contained 17 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine in concealment.

International network

According to police, an organised criminal group had built an international network to supply precursor chemicals and distribute the finished product. The drugs were produced on an industrial scale and intended for export to Belgium, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Germany.

Rolandas Imbras, a prosecutor in the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Unit of the Vilnius regional prosecutor's office, said four people have been charged with possessing a very large quantity of psychotropic substances as part of an organised group. They were detained at different locations across Lithuania. One of the detainees is a Dutch citizen of Turkish origin identified as the main organiser; he did not live in Lithuania permanently but visited regularly. The other suspects are Lithuanian citizens, one of whom has a previous conviction for drug trafficking.

How the lab operated

Case materials indicate the laboratory operated intermittently for at least two years in a building rented from private individuals. Equipment and chemicals were brought in from China, India and various European countries, and the suspects also bought uncontrolled chemicals from specialised companies in Lithuania. Police found 380 hydrogen gas cylinders imported from China at the site; hydrogen is used in the synthesis of synthetic drugs. Sulphuric acid used in the process was bought in one-tonne batches.

Police have dismantled all of the laboratory's equipment and moved it to a secure evidence warehouse. Law enforcement continues to search for distributors and people involved in smuggling drugs abroad.