An American musician who has lived in Russia for greater than a decade has been arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking, Russian information media reported.

The stories stated Michael Travis Leake is suspected of promoting mephedrone, whose results are just like these of cocaine and MDMA. A Moscow courtroom ordered him to be held for 2 months in pre-trial detention, the stories stated. He faces prices of manufacturing or distribution of medicine, which carry a sentence of as much as 20 years in jail.

An Instagram web page beneath the title Travis Leake Instagram identifies him because the singer for the band Lovi Noch (Seize the Night). News stories stated Leake is a former paratrooper with the US army and has lived in Moscow since 2010.

Russian drug legal guidelines are strict. WNBA star Brittney Griner was arrested in February 2022 after vape canisters containing hashish oil had been present in her baggage at a Moscow airport. She was sentenced to 9 years in jail, however was launched in December in an alternate for US-imprisoned Russian arms seller Viktor Bout.

The US State Department stated in an emailed assertion to The Associated Press that it was conscious of the stories {that a} US citizen had just lately been arrested in Moscow. It stated when a US citizen is detained abroad, the division “pursues consular access as soon as possible and works to provide all appropriate consular assistance.” The division stated it could don’t have any additional remark resulting from privateness issues.(AP) RUP RUP

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