BUCHAREST (Reuters) - Romanian police arrested four men and seized 320 kilograms (686 pounds) of Netherlands-bound heroin, the Black Sea country's biggest haul, with a street value exceeding 40 million euros (£28.3 million), authorities said on Wednesday.
The accused traffickers, two Romanians and two Turks, were arrested after a four-year surveillance of their international crime ring, while attempting to leave the country for Hungary aboard two trucks, with packs of heroin hidden in fuel tanks.
"It's a four year hunt and successful cooperation between Romanian, Turkish and Ukrainian authorities," said Daniel Horodniceanu, chief of the anti-mafia prosecuting office DIICOT.
"The packs were heavily soaked in chilli pepper powder, folded in carbon paper to thwart our drug-detecting dogs."
Horodniceanu said the drugs entered Romania from Ukraine and were most likely sourced in Afghanistan. They were believed to be destined for to be delivered by truck to the "the Netherlands hub," for consequent retail distribution in the European Union.