Drug Packages on Playgrounds and Under Ambulance Windows: "Pealtnägija" Reveals Modern Drug Trade

Drug packages on a playground, under ambulance windows, and by the courthouse door – "Pealtnägija" ("Eyewitness") brings viewers an exceptionally detailed and documentary-style insight into the modern drug trade.

In 2023, police received several similar tips from attentive citizens about suspicious packages or individuals hiding them. This led investigators to one of the largest drug trafficking schemes in Tartu in recent years, with a proven revenue of €250,000, but which also laid out the modern drug trade in extraordinary detail.

"Now we understand how user-friendly this entire drug ordering process has become, and we actually have to deal with these problems now," said Ingmar Laas, Senior Prosecutor of the Southern District Prosecutor's Office.

"Today we know how to fight against it, so we are not groping in the dark. This is the most important thing for us, that we understand how the system works," said Rain Vosman, Head of the Criminal Bureau of the Southern Prefecture.

The architects of this small drug empire turned out to be 24-year-old Mykita, who arrived in Estonia from Ukraine after the full-scale war broke out and was known as the operator, and 34-year-old Ivan, who had emigrated from Ukraine earlier and worked as the courier.

The main figures operating in Tartu reportedly never met in person, and their communication occurred solely through the Telegram application. Their joint work resulted in the distribution of substances ranging from cannabis and amphetamine to MDMA and nitazene in various locations across the city for sale to customers. Unbeknownst to ordinary people, Tartu became something of a self-service drug store.

"If previously, buying drugs usually involved meeting some suspicious person in a dark street corner, now it happens in completely public spaces, in broad daylight, very quickly. The selection is very large, essentially it's an e-shop," described Laas.

Detailed Insight into a Hidden World

Mykita and Ivan confessed to the scheme after their arrest and were convicted earlier this year through a plea bargain. Their confessions and thorough surveillance provide a detailed insight into an otherwise hidden world.

Mykita's primary role was ordering narcotics from abroad and communicating with clients.

"He had contacts in Latvia, the Netherlands, and so on. He ordered large quantities of narcotics – various cocaine, amphetamine, cannabis, ecstasy pills, nitazene. Whatever, in large quantities. This merchandise moved through postal packages," said Vosman.

While Mykita essentially handled the "office work" and organization, Ivan worked "in the field" and picked up the narcotics ordered by Mykita from a parcel locker at the Jaamamõisa Selver in Tartu.

Security cameras recorded dozens of instances in late 2023 and early 2024 of courier Ivan taking what appeared to be ordinary cardboard boxes from the locker. He used no conspiracy or concealment. Often, he would stop by the grocery store with the illegal cargo, buy himself food, and then move on.

"How brazenly Ivan first goes and takes the package from the post office or the machine, walks around with it, I think also in Selver there, these are quite large packages. Very clearly walking around freely with it. He could think that the police might come at any time, and he actually stands there, package in hand, narcotics in the middle of Tartu somewhere in a shopping center," recounted Vosman.

"That's where a false sense of security has developed. Because the names are seemingly hidden, and they think their identities are unknown, and when receiving a postal delivery, you don't have to show any documents, that's where this false sense of security has developed, that no one will reach them," commented Laas.

"He received the package, took a picture to show he had received it, and sent it to Mykita. Then Ivan walked with the package to his home. He lived alone in a rented apartment in the center of Tartu and essentially began packaging the narcotics he had just brought in the mail into small quantities. For example, he bought plastic bags from a packaging center, bought magnets somewhere, and then prepared small quantities of half a gram to three grams," described Vosman.

Narcotics Were Also Left on Children's Playgrounds

Ivan continuously distributed the repackaged narcotics in public places across the city, leaving them attached with magnets to trash cans, for example, but also taped under the window flashing of the Tartu ambulance building.

It was the placement of these small packages that was noticed by attentive citizens, who reported it to the police. During the surveillance, the police documented various locations in busy areas of the university town – from the handrail of the stairs behind the Supreme Court to bushes in the city center, where Ivan would drop off one- to two-gram packages everywhere.

"Bushes and various places in the urban space were used to leave narcotics there so that a consumer who wanted to buy narcotics could pick them up," added Laas.

"He took a picture. When he took the picture, then automatically with some application he sent it to Mykita, that at those coordinates there is this amount of substance. And that's how he spent his days. For each package he left in the so-called field, he received five euros. His monthly income was about up to 3,000 euros," explained Vosman.

The quantities were large, and therefore their falling into the wrong hands could have been life-threatening. Among other things, the drugs were hidden inside candy wrappers, and, for example, a package of methamphetamine was left under a bench in a children's playground waiting for customers.

"For example, let's take the extremely dangerous substance protonitazene. We are talking about a large quantity. A large quantity is from what gram moment it is possible to intoxicate 10 people. In the case of protonitazene, for example, it's 0.00036 grams. Imagine how small a dose is needed to get a fatal overdose. If, hypothetically, it were packaged in a candy wrapper, left on a playground, which a child finds and eats, then the consequence is very, very, very sad," said Vosman.

Buyers Are Attracted on Social Media with Discounts and Raffles

While Ivan distributed an average of 20 packages a day across Tartu, Mykita handled the sales. To do this, he created a group on the Telegram messaging app called 420SHOP, which in US slang refers to cannabis use at 4:20 PM.

Believing that their real identities were hidden behind Telegram pseudonyms, there was active activity on both the seller and buyer sides. Mykita praised the purity and potency of his product but also conducted marketing. For example, there were raffles where one could win free amphetamine, cannabis, and other substances, or he invited members to add friends interested in drugs to the group and offered discounts for paying in crypto.

"Unfortunately, such a trend is emerging where ordinary marketing tricks are being adopted. I would even say that an attempt is being made to make the service very user-friendly, and then attempts are also made to attract customers with various campaigns or, for example, the possibility of feedback," noted Ingmar Laas.

"If at the beginning this Telegram group was quite small in terms of users – maybe 200 users – then at some point there were already about 1000, so in reality, one could no longer speak of any closed group. /.../ The police actually know who is there today. It's quite sad to see that even some perhaps well-known or very prestigious people are there," said Rain Vosman.

The group with 1000 members can be joined via a friend-to-friend link. Communication takes place in either Russian or English, and occasionally the operator even lectures clients on morality, urging them to think for themselves before using drugs and stating that the shop is not responsible for the health of its customers.

The police have been monitoring the activity for nearly a year and have mapped both customers and sellers, including conducting several controlled purchases. Although payment can also be made by bank transfer, cryptocurrency is preferred, as its movement is more difficult to trace.

"This is actually the main payment method today. Here, in this specific criminal case, it was also possible to transfer to bank accounts that belonged to so-called third parties, individuals not involved at all, who at some point had either voluntarily given, sold, or had their accounts somehow stolen," explained Laas.

"And when I had made my payment for the substance, I was sent coordinates. I received these coordinates, went, looked where the substance was, looked it up at those coordinates. Once I had it, I could also give feedback to others from a separate link there on how well the service worked," described Vosman.

While usually dealing with gram quantities, a police test purchase proved that larger quantities, such as twenty grams, could also be ordered on special request.

Head of the Narcotics Department of the Tax and Customs Board, Raul Koppelmaa, confirmed that ordering by mail, marketing in online groups, and geocaching are the most typical methods today. There is no longer a need for complex hiding places for smuggling or dealers loitering on street corners. Seemingly large-scale operations are carried out by one or two people.

"Currently, there are very many individuals who operate alone. We have a very good example from last spring, where a high school senior similarly ordered narcotics for himself from the Netherlands and then sold them through a Telegram group. He created or made himself a so-called shop there, and that's where he sold. When we searched his place, we found about €35,000 in cash, and during that time, he had acquired a very decent car. /.../ Today, it is possible to earn a very, very large amount of money with narcotics," said Koppelmaa.

On the one hand, it is surprising how easy it is to sell drugs in a social media group with 1000 members without anyone reporting the illegal activity. On the other hand, it is also easy to order large quantities of drugs from abroad without alarm bells ringing.

"Today, we can order postal packages anonymously and in the name of a third person. That's exactly what the individuals in the SHOP420 group did as well, so this situation definitely favors the activities of drug criminals today," noted Vosman.

"The sending of shipments between countries has been made quite easy. In reality, it is possible to send these shipments between countries without identifying oneself with an ID card or other means. This has created, it seems to me, an opportunity for such a shipment-based drug trade," admitted Laas.

"Today, they order packages to prepaid cards. For each package, perhaps a separate prepaid card is bought, names of individuals are invented, or the names of individuals that we have hundreds of, such as Tamm or Kask, are chosen. Then the mass is so large that /.../ basically, we are sometimes looking for a needle in a haystack," said Koppelmaa.

Since it is not feasible to check all packages, the Tax and Customs Board has its own tried and tested methods for identifying suspicious packages.

"The methods are different. Today, we start with the fact that risk models have been developed in mass data processing, which select a certain number of packages, and then these are checked with X-ray equipment. Then we certainly also have service dogs, who are also quite often helpful. And we have various spectrometers with which we ourselves identify substances. And certainly, one important argument is also the official's own selection and how they look at the shipment, that there is something wrong," Koppelmaa listed.

"And our goal is not to hinder the movement of large postal packages. We also have to consider the commercial goals of courier companies. If I were to start checking all packages now, individuals might receive their packages perhaps four or five months later," he added.

Each year, over 100 criminal and a couple of hundred misdemeanor proceedings are initiated based on postal shipment inspections.

In early 2024, customs also inspected a postal package belonging to the Tartu drug traffickers, which contained a large quantity of narcotics. By that time, the investigative authorities already had a clear picture, and the men were arrested. Several bank cards in other people's names, a large number of phone SIM cards, and tens of thousands of euros in cash were found at Mykita's home. A large amount of narcotics was found at Ivan's rented apartment.

The police were able to prove a criminal income of a quarter of a million euros. The men pleaded guilty and reached a plea agreement – the operator was sentenced to six years in prison, the courier received five years.

"No matter what you come up with, we will find out and we will come after you, we will come after the criminals. It's not a question of if, but when," affirmed Vosman.

When SHOP420 was shut down in Tartu, another similar and even larger Telegram group started operating, whose ringleaders were also arrested and should be appearing in court soon.

Avaldatud 26/03/2025