Russian visa holder arrested, 45 thousand dollars in drug revenue seized
HAYWOOD COUNTY, — A drug bust resulted in the seizure of a half-ton of illegal narcotics along with the arrest of an individual with an interesting background.
Monday night, March 18th, agents with the 30th Judicial Drug Task Force pulled over a sprinter van on interstate-40 in Haywood County for a traffic violation.
According to agent Johnnie Carter, the agents received a hit from a canine that led to a probable cause search.
Upon opening the vehicle they found 1 thousand and 10 pounds of marijuana, 46 pounds of psilocybin, and around 45-thousand dollars in what they believe to be revenue made from the illegal sale of the drugs the individual had conducted during his trip from the west to east coast.
“Well, it’s our understanding that the defendant in this case was in California, but was not a U.S. Citizen but was a Russian National and he was smuggling drugs from California into other states across the U.S. So, Tennessee was just one stop of many for this particular defendant,” said Frederick Agee, District Attorney.28th Judicial District.
The defendant, Savinov Kirill, a Russian citizen here on a visa, was arrested at the scene.
He is being charged with schedule 6 and 1 drug violations and is being held at the Haywood County jail.
District Attorney General Frederick Agee says the appearance of illegal aliens trafficking drugs in Tennessee is all too common.
“But we’re seeing it more and more often that we’re seeing undocumented, illegal aliens, that are transporting illegal narcotics,” said Agee.
Agee says he believes this is because Tennessee doesn’t regulate marijuana, thus creating a void for black market sales to exist in the state, making it a lucrative opportunity for outsiders to sell the drug here.
“I do believe that the Biden administration took a position on either decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana, you would see…you might not see it overnight but it would take some time but eventually the black market would be suppressed and so you would put people out of business who are involved in organized crime,” said Agee.
Agee wanted to give special thanks to the agents in the drug task force.
“Our drug task force, our Interstate Interdiction Unit is arguably one of the best in the entire country. We are the best in the state of Tennessee but we are arguably the best in the entire country,” said Agee.
District Attorney Frederick Agee says that they have not only arrested members of Russian mafia’s but also Chinese mafia members and Mexican cartel members.
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