A court in Moscow has sentenced Romanian citizen Mihail Nicolaev to 19 years in prison for participation in an international criminal group engaged in drug trafficking, TASS reported.

The case under which the convict was detained was initiated back in 2015. Another 32 criminal cases related to the illicit trafficking of large and exceptionally large quantities of drugs are linked to this case in a single procedure, according to Russia’s state news agency cited by News.ro.

"A verdict was announced in the case of a citizen of the Republic of Moldova and Romania, accused of participating in a criminal association and attempting to sell narcotics on an exceptionally large scale. The Cheremushkinsky District Court in Moscow handed down a sentence against Nicolaev Mihail Ion of imprisonment for a period of 19 years, with the sentence to be served in a high-security penal colony," the court's press service announced. 

Investigators believe that 22 leaders and active participants of the criminal organization are involved in these crimes. Some of the individuals implicated in this case are outside the Russian Federation and are being sought, TASS specified. 

The Russian state news agency also presented several images from the Romanian's trial, showing him standing handcuffed in a glass cage. 

The verdict came one day after Romania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the Russian Federation’s military attaché in Bucharest, as well as his deputy, had been declared persona non grata on Romanian territory "for conducting activities that contravene the provisions of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."

radu@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Hyotographics | Dreamstime.com)