40-year-old Ukrainian citizen Roman Nazarenko was sentenced to life in prison in Indonesia for drug production on the island of Bali, the Associated Press reports, BTA reports.
In May 2024, police raided a villa on the island and found a laboratory in its basement for growing marijuana and producing precursors for the synthetic drug ecstasy. After being put on the Interpol wanted list, Nazarenko was detained in December 2024 at Bangkok International Airport while trying to flee to Dubai.
He stated in court that he was tricked into joining the drug cartel, but according to the prosecutor's office, it was Nazarenko who was among the main organizers. The magistrates emphasized that the main leader of the criminal network is Russian citizen Oleg Tkachuk, who is still at large.
In January 2025, an Indonesian court sentenced three accomplices - two Ukrainians and one Russian - to 20 years in prison for participating in the same cartel.
Bali has long been popular among Russians and Ukrainians, but since the start of the war in 2022, the number of visitors, especially from Russia, has increased significantly. Despite the military conflict between the two countries, representatives of both nationalities have created joint criminal groups on the island, notes Indonesia's National Drug Control Agency.