More than 3,600 sachets of Alpha-PHiP (a new psychoactive substance) were found during searches by investigators at the homes of drug dealers in the center of the Capital. The new drug, known as “Zombie”, is sold for 10 lei a dose in the Universitate, Unirii or Colțea areas of Bucharest.
A new drug, sold for 10 lei a dose in the center of the CapitalPhoto: Romanian Police
DIICOT announced on Friday that 10 people were detained in this case, and seven others are being investigated under judicial control for the crime of carrying out, without the right, operations with psychoactive substances. One of those detained is also being investigated for high-risk drug trafficking. The 10 detained traffickers were taken to the Bucharest Court, which ordered the preventive arrest of three of them, house arrest for six others and judicial control for one person.
“Zombie” for 10 lei a dose
According to the prosecutors, between January and October 2023, the suspects possessed psychoactive substances for sale (Alpha-PHiP, a new psychoactive substance, from the class of synthetic cathinones) and sold or brokered the sale of such substances to consumers in Bucharest.
They sold the drugs especially in the center of the Capital – Unirii, Colțea, Universitate and on the adjacent streets, the interaction between sellers and customers taking place directly, on the street. A sachet with such a substance was sold for 10 lei, prosecutors say.
Following the searches carried out in this case in Bucharest and Ilfov, 3,610 sachets containing Alpha-PHiP (new psychoactive substance), approximately 50 grams of NSP (new psychoactive substances), approximately 5 grams of cannabis, an electronic scale were found and seized , 12 mobile phones and the sum of 20,200 lei, money that would come from the sale of drugs.
According to the Romanian Police, 41 criminal reports submitted to the Capital Police and the Gendarmerie concerning the members of the groups, as well as 17 petitions from citizens and companies in the area, were brought together in this file.
This drug is known as “Zombie”, being bought mainly by homeless people in the center of the Capital.
- “It’s fast addictive, right from the first dose. An important threshold of dependence, then it leaves itself with physical and mental dependence, and besides, the substance also has a toxic effect in the body, it attacks the internal organs, it even attacks the limbs.
- It causes strong infections and many times the users even end up with limb amputation or surgical interventions”, says Cătălin Țone, anti-drug expert, quoted by stirileprotv.ro.
The age of drug users has dropped to 10-11 years in Romania
Drug trafficking in Romania has seen an increase, while traffickers develop new methods of distribution, and the age of users has decreased to 10-11 years, according to a report published on Thursday by Ministry of Interior.
At European level, 29% of people aged between 15 and 64 stated that they had consumed an illegal drug. Comparatively, at the national level, 10.7% of people aged between 15 and 64 declared that they had used drugs at least once in their life (experimental use).
According to the report in which the MAI lists the actions of the Police in the area of drug trafficking and consumption, this year 37 groups were destroyed.
- “600 operational actions carried out, during which approximately 2,000 searches were carried out;
- 37 organized criminal groups, destructured, with 223 people;
- 7,326 criminal acts registered, activities being carried out in 22,260 delegation orders issued by DIICOT prosecutors;
- 772 indictments issued, targeting 2,183 crimes, with 1,388 defendants, of which 588 were detained/arrested;
- 570 kg of drugs, over 3.2 tons of precursors, approximately 650 kg of green mass from the drug category and over 1.5 million tablets removed from the market, as a result of the operative actions carried out by the police together with DIICOT prosecutors.
In the period June-August 2023, at the national level, the following were achieved:
- 211 operational actions carried out;
- 16 organized criminal groups, destroyed, 472 people being sent to court;
- 2,942 criminal acts registered, activities being carried out in 5,023 delegation orders issued by DIICOT prosecutors;
- 210 kg of drugs removed from the market, approximately 20 illegal drug crops discovered and dismantled.
- At the level of the Romanian Police, in the year 2023, on the line of combating drug trafficking and illicit consumption, 8,899 criminal files were received, accompanied by delegation orders, of which 3,177 files (35.7%) were received between June and August.
Actions from June to August led to:
- identification and destructuring of approx. 45% of criminal groups destroyed in 2023;
- removing from the market approximately 40% of the quantity in kg of high-risk and high-risk drugs, respectively 80% of high-risk and high-risk tablets from the total values related to the current year.
