Law enforcement agencies in Kazakhstan and Ukraine have dismantled a network of call centers that recruited drug couriers for operations inside Kazakhstan.

The joint operation was carried out by the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Ukraine’s National Police, with coordination from the prosecutors general of both nations, The Caspian Post reports via Tengrinews.kz.

The call centers, shut down in Kyiv on May 28, were linked to a transnational criminal organization involved in the production and distribution of synthetic drugs across Europe and the CIS region.

As a result of the operation, 11 suspects were detained. Investigators identified the roles of all participants in the criminal network, including organizers, senior operators, and staff responsible for recruiting individuals to participate in drug-related activities.

Eldar Abdikenov, Deputy Chairman of Kazakhstan’s Committee for Countering Drug Crime, said the call centers were used to search for and recruit people to work as drug couriers and narcotics packagers in Kazakhstan.

During searches at nine locations, police officers seized approximately $40,000 in cash, €10,000, a Range Rover vehicle, as well as mobile phones, laptops, and tablets believed to be connected to the operation.

Specialists are now analyzing data from the confiscated devices, while efforts continue to identify the masterminds behind the scheme and trace the criminal network’s financial operations.