Drug dealer caught in Sarkandaugava thanks to an unusual hiding place 0 22

An orange arrow on the carpet pointing to a specific apartment and faded inscriptions on the apartment doors in the building's entrance appeared recently. There was also an inscription on the floor saying "drug addicts," but it disappeared after the police visit on Monday. However, a similar inscription remained on the wall of the building. Residents of the building do not know why law enforcement arrived. They saw police officers walking through the building with dogs and taking one of the apartment's residents away. Young people with a small child lived in this apartment.

"They were being searched for — young girls and guys. They lived here in the summer. They had a little girl. There were no scandals. I don’t know what happened. The police weren’t even let inside. The girl was here last night with the little girl," said one of the residents.

Another neighbor said that the door of these residents had been broken into multiple times and that there were knocks on it: "There are always some strangers appearing here. I don’t understand who they are. It’s quiet here in these three apartments. They say they come there to shoot up. I haven’t seen it myself, but I have seen syringes lying around. There’s always such a not-so-good atmosphere here."

Syringes are found both in the basement, where apparently a homeless person lives, and on the awning above the entrance, as well as in the entrance itself. Packages from prescription medications are lying around near the house.

"We mostly have drug addicts wandering around here. Because there’s a place nearby where they go in the mornings — they get something to drink there, and then they come here. There used to be a drug addict couple living here, and all of them gathered here," said a resident of a neighboring house.

It is likely that drug addicts had been gathering in the apartment where the police conducted the search in recent months. Law enforcement had previously received information about this address, but this time the evidence of illegal activity was irrefutable.

"In the basement of the building, where economic activities are carried out, employees noticed that a bag with drugs had fallen out of the shaft. The police arrived and recorded the fact. A man associated with these substances was detained," said Arnis Dudans, head of the 2nd department of the Criminal Police Bureau of the Northern Police Department of Riga.

The detained man is 41 years old, and he was the one who stored his "treasures" in the ventilation shaft. At the moment he was trying to retrieve them, workers from a furniture workshop heard strange noises coming from the ventilation grille:

"I had an employee working here. This is his workplace. He heard some noise, something was happening. He says he opened it — and a bag fell right here. Then another bag and some ropes with hooks. Right from there. Apparently, this drug dealer, who was selling all this, wanted to retrieve them using these devices. He (the employee) says he took these ropes and tied them so that he (the dealer) wouldn’t pull. He pulled, but it tore. That’s all."

The employee reported what he saw to his supervisor, who immediately went to the police. Both he and the one who found the bundle encountered the drug dealer on the street near the house. The dealer said he "lost his things" there, showed no aggression, and apparently did not understand that the police would soon arrive at the address.

"You know, those transparent bags from 'Maxima.' There was a kilogram. Then another bag was found, then another one," said the workshop owner.

There was no kilogram of drugs, but 163 grams of amphetamine were packaged in 19 bags.

"This individual had previously come to the attention of the police. He resides in this building. During the search, scales, syringes, and an object resembling a firearm were found," the police reported.

As part of the criminal proceedings, the court applied a preventive measure to the man — arrest.