FSB: Vice-Rector of the Russian Customs Academy sold drugs to colleagues and coordinated pawnbrokers from his work computer • Meduza • RIMA

FSB: Vice-Rector of the Russian Customs Academy sold drugs to colleagues and coordinated pawnbrokers from his work computer

Vice-rector of the Russian Customs Academy (RTA) Zalim Kerefov, who was detained a few days ago on a drug trafficking case, used his work computer for illegal activities. This was reported by the Center for Public Relations of the FSB.

According to the agency, Kerefov used “cryptographic internet messengers” to buy drugs, administrate five shops on the dark web, coordinate the work of “bookmarkers” and inform buyers about the location of “bookmarks”.

Kerefov has been dealing drugs since 2020. Three employees of the RTA, including the Vice-Rector for Financial and Economic Affairs, admitted that they bought drugs from him for personal consumption, according to the FSB. Earlier, the UK stated that Kerefov attracted cadets of the academy to the sale of drugs.

The special service showed a video of the vice-rector's detention, as well as a search in a private house, where, allegedly, there was a drug production laboratory in the interests of Kerefov. The entrance to the laboratory, according to the FSB, was located under the floor of the bathroom and was equipped with a pneumatic lift.

The FSB detained three people whom they call the organizers of the drug laboratory. Against them, as well as against Kerefov, criminal cases were initiated under criminal articles related to the production and sale of drugs. The vice-rector of the RTA was taken into custody, he pleaded guilty to selling drugs.

During the searches in the criminal case against Kerefov, 62 kilograms of mephedrone, 750 liters of drug-containing liquid, as well as money in the amount of seven million rubles and 31 thousand US dollars were seized in the offices of the RTA employees, five dwellings and a drug laboratory.

The Russian Customs Academy, founded in 1993, trains specialists for the customs authorities of the Russian Federation and some other countries of the former USSR. The Academy is part of the structure of the Federal Customs Service of Russia.