Tengrinews.kz - Two Latvian citizens have been sentenced in East Kazakhstan for producing 125 kilograms of mephedrone, according to the press service of the East Kazakhstan regional court.
According to the court, the men arrived in Ust-Kamenogorsk from Riga in the spring of 2024 with the aim of setting up an underground drug lab. They later moved to the Glubokoe district of East Kazakhstan, where they rented a facility and organized a laboratory. There, they produced over 125 kilograms of mephedrone, a synthetic drug similar in effect to methcathinone.
Their guilt was confirmed by forensic examinations, search results, covert investigative footage, and their own confessions.
"The offence under Article 297-1, Part 3 of the Criminal Code is classified as especially serious and carries a punishment of 10 to 15 years of imprisonment," the court's press service said.
Despite both defendants expressing remorse and asking for the minimum sentence, the court sentenced each of them to 11 years in a medium-security facility.
The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.
Earlier, the Almaty Department of the Financial Monitoring Agency reported the arrest of foreign nationals.