Nine persons were arrested on suspicion that they formed part of a group that distributed ethnobotanics in Chisinau and other localities of the country, IPN reports.

Valeriu Bodean, deputy prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases, told a news conference that the scheme was coordinated by a man held in jail who was helped by another prisoner. The nine persons were responsible for storing and selling drugs near education institutions.

Investigation officer of the National Investigation Inspectorate Daniela Gherman said officers under cover bought ten packets of drugs. About 100 such doses were sold daily.

According to Ion Talmazan, deputy head of the Prosecution Division of the General Police Inspectorate, police officers carried out searches at the homes and in the cars of the suspects. These identified and seized over 3 kg of drugs, small scales and other corpora delicti as well as cash to the value of over 300,000 lei.

The suspects face 7 to 15 years in jail for trafficking in drugs.