Russia said Tuesday it had dismantled an international drug smuggling network as part of a collaborative operation with the United States, in a rare show of cooperation between Washington and Moscow. The Federal Security Service (FSB) said it had carried out a multi-stage mission with the US Department of Justice that ended with the seizure of 330 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of 1 billion rubles (about $13.6 million).
Video released by the FSB to Russian media showed plainclothes agents dragging suspects from cars as well as boxes of confiscated cash and drugs.
The security agency said in a statement that the joint-US operation had disrupted "a transnational criminal community that specialized in smuggling cocaine from South America to Russia and other European states."
The operation was a rare example of cooperation between Russia and the United States, which share a deep and mutual distrust over a range of issues including election meddling and hacking.
