Beglik to stand trial over Bugavičius murder and international drug trafficking

Lithuanian prosecutors have sent a criminal case against 13 people to the Vilnius Regional Court, including alleged criminal organisation leader Sergejus Beglikas, who will stand trial over the 2015 murder of Deimantas Bugavičius, LRT reported.

The defendants face charges including serious and very serious crimes against life and health, possession and smuggling of very large quantities of drugs, laundering unlawfully obtained property, illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, customs fraud and other offences.

Prosecutors said Beglikas, who was extradited from Spain to Lithuania this spring, is accused of organising and leading the armed criminal organisation. He is also charged with the attempted murder of another person.

The investigation was conducted by officers of the Lithuanian Criminal Police Bureau under the leadership of prosecutors from the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

According to the investigation, the armed criminal organisation operated internationally across Europe, South America and Africa. The alleged offences were committed from 2014 to 2020.

While in Spain between 2014 and 2019, Beglikas and Renaldas Kanius, who is listed among Europe’s most wanted people, allegedly organised the acquisition of cocaine in South America and cannabis resin, or hashish, in Africa and Spain. The drugs were then allegedly transported to Spain and through European countries to the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Romania, Poland, Lithuania and Russia.

Investigators said the drugs were concealed in ships, trucks and other vehicles, shipping containers and specially equipped hiding places. Between 2014 and 2019, the defendants allegedly acquired, transported and possessed at least 2.4 tonnes of cocaine and at least 6.915 tonnes of hashish.

During the same period, nearly 674 million euros in funds obtained through criminal activity were allegedly brought into or taken out of Lithuania and other European Union countries without being declared to customs or undergoing customs controls.

Beglikas was detained in Spain last year and handed over to Lithuanian authorities this spring after several unsuccessful attempts to simulate illnesses and seizures, ELTA reported.

Investigators said the evidence gave reasonable grounds to believe that Beglikas, acting as the armed criminal organisation’s leader together with other members and for selfish motives, organised the murder of a person in a manner dangerous to the lives of others and attempted to murder another person.