Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry has announced the dismantling of an international network accused of recruiting people into a criminal drug-trafficking operation.

The large-scale special operation lasted for more than a year and involved law enforcement agencies across several countries, according to zakon.kz.

The operation was carried out in cooperation with law enforcement authorities in Ukraine and Albania, the Prosecutor General’s Offices of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, Interpol, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Investigators found that the recruiters operated under the guise of legal employment opportunities.

They recruited people for a range of positions, including call-center operators, HR managers, chemists, couriers, drug couriers, logistics workers and warehouse staff.

Potential recruits were reportedly promised easy money, but were ultimately drawn into an international drug trafficking network.

Kazakhstan’s Interior Ministry described the organization as a “large-scale criminal structure with a clear division of roles.”