40 persons have been taken in for hearings after 200 grams of heroin and 900 grams of cannabis were discovered.
Police officers and Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) prosecutors discovered 200 grams of heroin, 900 grams of cannabis and approximately 600 packs of contraband cigarettes following raids conducted yesterday morning in Lugoj, Timis County. The raids sought to dismantle a heroin trafficking group and involved 200 police officers and gendarmes. 40 persons were brought in for hearings at DIICOT Timisoara.
The contraband cigarettes as well as the 200 grams of heroin were discovered in the house of P. Oprea, one of the group’s leaders. Investigators established that from 2009 to 2011 the members of the group brought over 20 kilograms of heroin from Turkey, the merchandize being then distributed to Bucharest, Timisoara and Lugoj.
Apart from the raids in Lugoj, similar actions took place in Bucharest, targeting several groups that sold heroin, the Stoaca clan being among them. “We’re talking about the members of four or five groups in Lugoj who were cooperating and were getting their heroin from Bucharest. The heroin was then sold in Lugoj,” Mircea Andres, chief prosecutor DIICOT Timis, stated. According to judicial sources quoted by Mediafax, investigators suspect that the heroin brought from Bucharest caused two deaths among drug addicts in Lugoj in 2010. The actions conducted in the two cities were connected, however the one in Bucharest also had to do with a separate case, the aforementioned sources added.
Raids took place in Craiova too yesterday, being part of an ample action meant to dismantle an organized cross-border crime group specializing in smuggling lethal guns and in credit card fraud. Prosecutor Codrut Olaru, chief of DIICOT, also took part in the action, Mediafax informs.
30 persons were taken in for hearings at DIICOT Craiova, being charged with gun running and credit card fraud. The persons could be placed under 24-hour custody. According to Realitatea TV, the crime group’s leaders are Nicolae Dirivan Dumitru (a.k.a. “Chuck Norris”), Viorel Parnica (a.k.a. “Lever”), Ion Parnica (a.k.a. “Wilifort”), Stazian Miclescu (a.k.a. “Stazica”), Altafin Poenaru, Chiril Olegov Gheorghiev (a Bulgarian citizen) and Gabi Alin Poenaru (a.k.a. “Patrian”). According to investigators, the organized crime group, with the help of Bulgarian citizens, smuggled lethal guns and ammo into Romania. The guns were subsequently sold to members of the underworld in Craiova who then used them in street conflicts and brawls between various clans. The members of the organized crime group are also accused of using skimming devices on ATMs and POSs in various EU states, particularly in Portugal, in order to copy data from credit cards. The cloned credit cards were then used for illicit financial operations.
16 heard in fraud, money laundering and embezzlement case
Several searches took place yesterday in Prahova County too, 16 persons being brought in for hearings in a fraud, money laundering and embezzlement case. The damages have been estimated at RON 10,000,000. According to the investigators, Nicolae Ceapchie, a person that is close to some PDL politicians in Prahova County, is the leader of this crime group. DIICOT prosecutors have placed under distraint several road infrastructure machines, a plot of land and seven buildings in Ploiesti.
