US musician, ex-paratrooper Michael Travis Leake arrested in Moscow on drug trafficking charges

Information

By Related Press

June 11, 2023 | 5:15am

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 Saturday.

The reviews mentioned 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 reviews mentioned.

He faces expenses of manufacturing or distribution of medication, which carry a sentence of as much as 20 years in jail.

An Instagram web page underneath the identify Travis Leake Instagram identifies him because the singer for the band Lovi Noch (Seize the Evening).

Information reviews mentioned 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 trade for US-imprisoned Russian arms seller Viktor Bout.

The US State Division mentioned in an emailed assertion to The Related Press that it was conscious of the reviews {that a} US citizen had just lately been arrested in Moscow.

It mentioned when a US citizen is detained abroad, the division “pursues consular entry as quickly as attainable and works to supply all applicable consular help.”

The division mentioned it might don’t have any additional remark as a result of privateness issues.