Romania Seizes 1.4 Tons of Heroin Bound for Western Europe

Romania's organised crime prosecution body, DIICOT, on Thursday announced the capture at the Black Sea port of Constanta of a shipment of 1.4 tons of heroin, which officials called the second-largest haul of the drug in EU territory in recent years.

The illegal cargo was discovered on May 10 concealed in containers transporting construction material in a ship docked in Constanta that was sailing from Iran to Romania with several unspecified Western European countries as destinations.

"Our country remains a transit point for such amounts of drugs," prosecutor Oana Patu was quoted as saying by Romanian news portal Hotnews.ro. Romanian police estimated the value of the drugs at 45 million euros.

Europol, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and law enforcement agencies from Hungary, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and France all took part in the operation, which included raids at eight locations in Romania and abroad and led to the dismantling of a drug trafficking syndicate made up of Romanian nationals and foreign citizens.

The number of arrested suspects has not yet been disclosed by the Romanian authorities.