According to the security service, a total of 26 criminal cases have been initiated against criminal group members, some of them serving on Northern Fleet vessels.
The first 14 arrests were made in April-May this year, while another 12 people were detained in a second operation in October-November, Murman.ru reports.
The drug traders where caught in concerted action with the Ministry of Interior and several of them are reported to have commanding responsibilities in the fleet. Also family members of Navy personnel were involved in the group, the FSB says. A number of the detainees reside in the closed military towns in the region.
One of the criminals was allegedly caught red-handed while trying to bring more than16 kg of amfetamins and ritalin to Severomorsk.
Long prison sentences have been given to several of the group members, the longest of them ten years, with an additional fine of 300 thousand rubles.
According to the FSB, also several companies engaged in money laundering connected with the drugs sales have been closed and their leaders detained.
The Northern Fleet is the biggest of Russia’s Navy units. It operates from bases along the Kola Peninsula and has the city of Severomorsk as its headquarters
