A policeman from the Iași County Police Inspectorate is among the 28 people detained in the case concerning a group that sold sweets or vaping devices containing cannabis or HHC to children and young people from all over the country and that were produced at a factory in Iași . There, investigators discovered 40 tons of industrial hemp that was to be processed to obtain psychoactive substances, according to DIICOT, which on Wednesday came up with new details in this case.
The Canadian owner of the factory was also remanded.
The organized crime directorate (DIICOT) and the Romanian Police announced on Wednesday that following the 121 searches carried out the day before, 81,102 Vapes, 3,237 lollies, 1,316 boxes and bags of jellies, 169 boxes and jars of cookies, 169 seeds were seized of cannabis, 3,692 containers of various sizes. Also, 299,333 lei, 29,225 euros and 9,200 dollars were discovered and taken.
At the same time, 65 telephones, 23 laptops, 5 kilograms of silver in the form of five ingots, silver coins, 2 cannabis plants, 400 boxes, grinders, envelopes, jars with plant substances, 8 buckets containing of approximately 74.2 liters of liquid substance, 14 buckets of broken vapors, approximately 149 kilograms.
All these products were made at the factory in Iași County, and at the national level, five other locations used as warehouses were discovered. Inside the factory, approximately 40 tons of industrial hemp were discovered that were to be processed to obtain psychoactive substances, according to DIICOT and the police inspectorate.
According to the cited sources, 5,000,000 euros were invested in this factory, of which approximately 1.2 million euros were invested in modern equipment.
DIICOT Iași prosecutors detained for 24 hours 28 people involved in these activities, including a Canadian citizen, who was the majority shareholder of the factory.
Among those detained is also a police officer from IPJ Iași, who was allegedly involved in the activity of packaging substances. He is to be taken to court with the proposal of preventive arrest.
The electronic vaping devices and “edible” products (jellies, cakes, dragees) made at the factory in Iasi contained cannabis or HHC, the new “legal cannabis”. HHC is the first semi-synthetic cannabinoid reported in the EU, and the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Addictions drew attention to its effects, but it is not banned in Romania.
In addition to the psychoactive effect they cause, these semi-synthetic cannabinoids are also dangerous to health because of the way they are obtained – the process by which they are obtained uses substances that are ultimately found in chemical products (HHC and derivatives).
The synthesis of HHC and derivatives begins with the extraction of CBD (cannabidiol) from industrial hemp, i.e. from plants with a low THC and high CBD content. In the second step, the extracted, distilled CBD is transformed into a mixture of two THC isomers, after which the mixture is catalytically hydrogenated (introduction of hydrogen molecules using heavy metals as catalysts).
This is impressive. It must be happening in other countries also. Hit them hard and pull the roots out of these parasites.