Who "protected" the cocaine smuggling?
Almost six years ago, in the spring of 2019, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB conducted a joint operation to stop the channel of cocaine smuggling to Russia.
At the end of March 2019, a container ship loaded with bananas arrived in St. Petersburg from Ecuador. By the time the ship was unloaded, the operatives already knew the number of the container in which the cache of cocaine briquettes was equipped. Operatives also found out that Igoris Grigas organized the transfer of a large batch of drugs to Russia.
This Lithuanian citizen has already appeared in the operational reports of law enforcement agencies in the early 2000s. However, then he had a passport in the name of Vigantas Ramanauskas. In 2015, he was deported from Russia. At home, in Lithuania, he changed his first and last name. And I started visiting Russia again. Already with a passport issued in the name of Igoris Grigas.
At the beginning of 2019, Ramanauskas, aka Grigas, came to Russia again. At the same time, Russian law enforcement agencies received information from their Ecuadorian colleagues about a large shipment of cocaine being sent to Russia.
When the ship got up for unloading, operatives set up round-the-clock surveillance of the container with a cache. The container was taken out of the port territory. But they didn't come for the cargo right away. And only on April 9, 2019, in the suburbs of St. Petersburg, while trying to pick up briquettes with cocaine from a cache in a container, Grigas's nephews, also Lithuanian citizens, Ernestas Kazlauskas and Mindaugas Koretsas, were caught red-handed. Igoris Grigas himself was also seen near the container. But it was not possible to detain him that day. He managed to escape.
Grigas was arrested only on October 25, 2019. On the same day, Georgy and Ivan Radomirov were taken into custody. Suspected of selling small wholesale shipments of cocaine.
Despite the fact that almost six years have passed since the arrest of drug traffickers, so far no one has been punished. Even the red-handed detainees Kazlauskas and Koretsas. Moreover, on August 16, 2023, a jury in the Moscow City Court issued a verdict of innocence of the defendants. After four years spent in prison cells, Grigas, his nephews and the Radomirov brothers, who were accused of forming a criminal community and smuggling 472 kilograms of cocaine to Russia, were released.
On August 26, 2023, the Prosecutor General's Office appealed the decision of the Moscow City Court. On February 5, 2024, the First Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction overturned the acquittal in the case of 472 kilograms of cocaine, issued on the basis of a jury verdict, and sent the case for a new trial. A new jury was formed. The trial has begun. But despite the fact that the trial card on the Moscow City Court website shows the names of five defendants, only Georgy and Ivan Radomirov appeared before the jury.
Because Igoris Grigas, who was facing life imprisonment, left Russia in August 2023. His nephews Kazlauskas and Koretsas also left our country.
On January 10, the Moscow City Court held a regular hearing on the case of 472 kilograms of cocaine. On this day, the jury was presented with a witness, Artem Geraskin, a former operative, a former lieutenant colonel of the Federal Drug Control Service.
I happened to attend this court session. The witness provided a lot of interesting information. But before I tell you about what happened on January 10 in the Moscow City Court, I want to remind you of some details of this case, which I outlined in September 2023 in the program "Attack from Lithuania".
The investigation of this criminal case began in July 2013, when a container ship loaded with bananas arrived in St. Petersburg from Ecuador.
And a few days before the ship was unloaded, operatives intercepted a message with the numbers of containers that are equipped with caches for laying briquettes with cocaine.
Knowing the numbers of the containers, the operatives did not seize the cocaine during unloading. And they did not interfere with the passage of customs control and the export of cargo from the port territory by car. When the vehicles with containers reached their destinations, they were continued to be monitored. But for the" parcels " from Ecuador then, in July 2013, no one came.
On July 24, 2013, 46 kilograms of cocaine were seized from a banana container in Kolpino, a suburb of St. Petersburg. On the same day, July 24, 2013, in the village of Selyatino, Naro-Fominsk district of the Moscow region, 120 kilograms of cocaine were seized from another container.
In the program "Attack from Lithuania", I expressed the version that in the summer of 2013, the attackers did not take any risks, because they also looked after the containers, and what is called" copied " the operatives conducting surveillance.
But it seems that the truth was much more monstrous. I began to suspect that in 2013, the leader of the criminal group, Igoris Grigas, who at that time still bore the surname Ramanauskas, had his own man, or mole, in the St. Petersburg department of the Federal Drug Trafficking Service. Which warned the drug dealer that the cargo that arrived from Ecuador was under the control of security forces, and that an operation was being prepared to detain those who would come for cocaine briquettes.
These suspicions were prompted by the testimony of a witness, Artem Geraskin, a former lieutenant colonel in the Federal Drug Control Service.
The witness told the jury that St. Petersburg drug lords paid attention to the criminal group of Vigantas Ramanauskas back in 2007.
Even then, operatives detained several couriers who were driving cars with drug caches from Lithuania to Russia. At the same time, drivers did not even know what they were transporting. They also had no contact with the organizers of the drug smuggling channel. Tasks were received via the Internet. Cars were picked up at parking lots. The keys were lying somewhere nearby in a hidden place. In the glove compartment were documents for customs and money for driving. In one of the cars that the courier drove to the Pskov region, 30 thousand doses of amphetamine were found.
The witness said that as a result of operational work, they established that drugs were supplied to Russia by the group of Vigantas Ramanauskas. And his closest associate was a fellow countryman from Lithuania - Virgilius Krauklis.
Back then, in the late noughties, Artem Geraskin flew to Vilnius. Lithuanian colleagues shared the information that Vigantas Ramanauskas has been in development for a long time. That this character has serious criminal connections in Holland, Spain and other European countries.
Vigantas Ramanauskas, who after changing his first and last name became Igoris Grigas, turned out to have serious criminal connections not only in Europe. But also in Russia. Moreover, in Russia, he had serious contacts in law enforcement agencies.
This is written in black and white in several court decisions that I studied when we released the "Attack from Lithuania" program back in September 2023. You can view this issue of the Ship's Log at the link below this video. I will briefly remind you of my investigation.
A person with the name Igoris and the surname Grigas did not exist at all until 2019. He did not appear in the criminal reports of St. Petersburg, cars, real estate, companies were not registered in his name, and he did not have either permanent or temporary registration in Russia. And no one knew him at all. Neither in law enforcement agencies, nor in criminal circles.
They could not recall the "criminal boss" Grigas and several retired and current employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB,towhomIasked them totell me whattheyknowaboutthis"leader of the criminal community."
In conversations, I quoted the decision of the Supreme Court of Russia to change the territorial jurisdiction of a criminal case. The document states that Grigas has extensive contacts in criminal circles and law enforcement agencies in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region and can " influence participants in criminal proceedings, including through existing criminal connections." But all my interlocutors threw up their hands in amazement. No oneremembered Igoris Grigas.
The solution to this paradox was found in the decision of the Moscow City Court, issued on November 11, 2019 on the appeal of Vigantas Ramanauskas against the decision of the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow to extend his arrest.
In an official court document kept in the archive of the Moscow City Court, it is written: "The accused indicated that... he is not currently Ramanauskas Vigantas, because some time ago he changed his personal data, and now he is Grigas Igoris."
Ramanauskas changed his first and last name for a reason. As I have already said, he was deported from Russia in 2015. On May 28, 2015, the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia issued Order No. 262-r "on the undesirability of staying in the territory of the Russian Federation" by Vigantas Ramanauskas. The Lithuanian citizen appealed against this order, applying to the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow with an administrative claim against the Russian Interior Ministry "on declaring illegal the order on the undesirability of staying on the territory of the Russian Federation, restoring the right to cross the border."
Already in the lawsuit itself, Ramanauskas, aka Grigas, lied, pointing out that until the spring of 2017, he did not know about the ban on entry to Russia, that "...he did not commit any offenses, and was not brought to criminal or administrative responsibility." But the court archives have preserved the decision of the Primorsky District Court of St. Petersburg, issued on March 14, 2016. The appeal ruling issued on August 30, 2016 by the St. Petersburg City Court in the same administrative case has also been preserved. On September 8, 2015, Ramanauskas ' wife Maria applied to the migration service for an invitation to enter Russia for her husband Vigantas Ramanauskas. But I got rejected. The girl protested the refusal in court. But I didn't find any support there either. The court's decision stated that the refusal to issue an " invitation to enter "was motivated by the fact that a decision was made against Ramanauskas" on the undesirability of staying (residing) in the Russian Federation
And why the decision to deport a Lithuanian citizen was made is described in great detail in the decision of the Zamoskvoretsky Court, issued on October 10, 2018 on the administrative claim of Ramanauskas himself. The court's archive also contains the decision on this case. This official document states:
"In the course of operational search activities carried out by employees of the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia in St.Petersburg, an international organizational criminal group was identified that supplies the narcotic drug "cocaine"from the territory of the Republic of Ecuador to the territory of the Russian Federation through the seaport of St. Petersburg using cargo transport, with the aim of subsequent sale in Russia."
This court decision also gave examples of the seizure of two shipments of cocaine on July 24, 2013 in the suburbs of St. Petersburg and in the Moscow region. The following information is also recorded in this court decision:
"In the course of carrying out a complex of operational-search and operational-investigative measures, exhaustive evidence sufficient to bring V. I. Ramanauskas to criminal responsibility has not been obtained at present. According to available information, V. I. Ramanauskas, fearing criminal prosecution after the seizure of wholesale shipments of drugs, stopped his activities related to drug trafficking."
From this document, we learned that on February 19, 2001, the Kingisepp City Court of the Leningrad Region sentenced Ramanauskas to 3 years and 6 months in a penal colony for car theft. Under part 2 of Article 175 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (acquisition or sale of property knowingly obtained by criminal means). On April 4, 2002, he left the colony, having been released on parole.
Unlike the newly minted Igoris Grigas , Vigantas Ramanauskas turned out to be a well-known character in St. Petersburg. For example, in August 2014, Vigantas Ramanauskas was included in the criminal reports after the shooting, which began during the "shootout" of two criminal groups, лидеромone of which was Ramanauskas.
On August 20, 2014, a well-known St. Petersburg investigative journalist Evgeny Vyshenkov wrote about a high-profile incident on the Krestovsky Island of St. Petersburg:
"After the commotion, colleagues were forced to hospitalize five people, including those with gunshot holes. One of the "professors" of the hijacking world, 43 – year-old Vigantas Ramanauskas, also got to the surgeons. Fame for this character from the Baltic States came back in the late 90s. Then they took it – after a "sump" with ten Mercedes cars was found in Kingisepp, and they came to Tallinn Street to pick it up. There was a story that deserves a separate page: Vigantas ran on the hoods of parked cars, and behind him the Typhoon fighters were rushing along the same bodies.
The wound received by Ramanauskas on the Krestovsky Island of St. Petersburg, was light. The victim quickly recovered and what is called "returned to service". And in 2015, I repeat, he was deported from Russia.
But let's return to the trial that is currently underway in the Moscow City Court, where on January 10 a former operative, former lieutenant colonel of the Federal Drug Control Service Artem Geraskin, was interrogated. The witness said that in 2013 they received operational information that the Ramanauskas group was waiting for a new batch of cocaine in caches equipped in containers that would arrive from Ecuador.
Geraskin and his colleagues decided to conduct a rapid implementation. It was a good reason. Shortly before that, a criminal case was opened against the closest associate of Romanauskas in criminal cases-Krauklis, who managed to escape. And the issue of putting him on the international wanted list was being resolved. The operatives decided to play this card and reach out to Romanauskas ' associates with a proposal to excuse Krauklis from the international wanted list. But in order not to arouse suspicion it was decided to play the role of corrupt cops and demand one million dollars from drug dealers
On January 10, a witness told the Moscow City Court that Moscow initially supported the implementation operation. But then they dismissed the initiative of their St. Petersburg colleagues. The witness claims that the St. Petersburg Department of the Federal Drug Control Service decided to conduct the operation on its own. But they were passed. Or framed. As a result, officers of the Federal Drug Control Service were detained in late summer 2013. Major Pavel Vyalykh and Lieutenant Colonels Pyotr Krutelev and Artem Geraskin. Officers of the central office of the Federal Drug Control Service Maxim Voloshin and Nikolai Marshin managed to escape and were later put on the international wanted list.
The arrest and criminal case against officers of the Federal Drug Control Service in 2013 and 2014 were widely reported in the press. Here, for example, is what Kommersant wrote in September 2014:
"The Gatchina City Court of the Leningrad Region passed a verdict on the first case of drugpolice officers who, according to the investigation, tried to get $1 million from a businessman accused of drug smuggling. Senior Federal Drug Control Service operative Pyotr Krutelev received a four-year prison sentence for attempted fraud, drug trafficking and abuse of office.
...The drug police came up with a very ingenious scheme to evade Mr. Krauklis from responsibility: they decided to register him as an agent of the Federal Drug Control Service, who dealt with drugs only as part of the security forces ' operations. One of these operations, allegedly carried out at the tip of a Lithuanian, was even planned to be shown on TV."
Офицеров Drug police officersPyotr Krutelev and Artyom Geraskin were convicted in closed trials. Because during these meetings, documents marked "Secret"were announced. But the case of Major Pavel Vyalykh, who fully admitted his guilt and made a deal with the investigation, was considered in open mode. The verdict passed against him is still publicly available on the website of the Gatchina City Court of the Leningrad Region. This is a very interesting document. From it, we learned that Virgilius Krauklis, the same associate of Grigas-Romanauskas, wrote a statement that he was ready to cooperate and be a secret agentof the drug police.
Lieutenant Colonel Artem Geraskin" ... no later than 15 hours 00 minutes on June 21, 2013", prepared " ... resolutions on behalf of the head of the Drug Crime Counteraction Department of the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia D. V. Buyanov with the latter's consent to conduct verification measures to study Krauklis in order to involve the drug control authorities in assistance on a secret basis as an agent."
This document was handed overto Radomirov, who is now on trial in the Moscow City Court. This is how the verdict against Pavel Vyalykh describes the process of transferring this document.
"...in the period from 15: 00 to 16: 50 on June 21, 2013, in the presence of Vyalykh P. V. ... with the consent of other accomplices of the crime, he handed over to Radomirov. on the outdoor terrace of the Bastion restaurant, which led Radomirov astray regarding the fact that Krauklis really is in the apparatus of confidential sources of the Federal Drug Control Service of Russia, and on the basis of information provided allegedly on his behalf about persons involved in drug trafficking, a large batch of cocaine will be seized."
I would like to emphasize that the document stating that Virgilius Krauklis is a member of the Federal Drug Control Service's confidential sources unit was obtained by drug traffickers on June 21, 2013.Let me also remind you that on July 24, 2013, more than one and a half centners of cocaine were seized from containers arriving from Ecuador in the town of Kolpino, a suburb of St. Petersburg, and in the village of Selyatino, Naro-Fominsk district of the Moscow Region. Because no one came to collect drugs from the stashes. Why didn't you come? Let's count. The motor ship-koteynerovoz goes from Ecuador to St. Petersburg for about 28-30 days. That is, by the time Romanauskas, aka Grigas, received from Radomirov a document on Krauklis ' cooperation with the Federal Drug Control Service, the parcel with drugs in caches equipped in containers with bananas had already gone to sea. The cocaine was on its way. Grigas-Romanauskas himself has already cooperated with law enforcement agencies. Because back in February 2013, he wrote a statement that the drug police were extorting money from him for not putting Krauklis on the international wanted list. And it is very likely that on June 21, 2013, when the drug dealers were handed a document with the visa of the head of the Drug Crime Counteraction Department of the Federal Drug Control Service, or a little later, someone informed Grigasthat the goods coming from Ecuador were under the control of the security forces. That's why then, in 2013, drug traffickers and they didn't risk taking the cocaine out of the containers.
But on April 9, 2019, the FSB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs managed to detain red-handed those who came for cocaine. Right in the container.
Why did the operation to stop the cocaine smuggling channel to Russia go smoothly in April 2019?
I suspect that the operation was successful only because it involved only employees of the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB. In St. Petersburg, no one knew that together with officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, special forces of the FSB arrived in the city. Who carried out the detention.
We continue to follow the trial in the Moscow City Court on the criminal case of smuggling 472 kilograms of cocaine to Russia.
