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Austrian, Slovakian authorities bust major methamphetamine-dealing ring

Xinhua, January 13, 2017 Adjust font size:

The authorities in Austria and Slovakia have made 63 arrests as part of a major bust against an international methamphetamine-dealing ring, local media reported on Thursday.

The police in the city of Eisenstadt said the arrests had been made since autumn in 2015, the suspects having smuggled 39 kilograms of the drug with a street value of 3.9 million euros (4.2 million U.S. dollars) into Austria, Der Standard reported.

Following indications that drugs were being smuggled into Austria via the autobahn crossing at Kittsee next to the Slovakian border, the authorities began to observe the group.

They discovered that the smugglers had stolen bicycles in the Austrian capital Vienna to obtain the funds to purchase the drugs in Bratislava, upon which they would return to Austria to sell them.

About 140 bicycle thefts have been attributed to the group.

Investigators then found two individuals in Slovakia, a 61-year-old man and his 42-year-old son who acted as the contact point for the dealers.

Dealers with a variety of nationalities travelled to meet them, and subsequently smuggled the drugs in clothes, underwear and car seats into Austria. Endit