Drugs and fraudulent call centers: Police foil Khimprom criminal group, operating in Ukraine and EU

Police have exposed the Khimprom criminal group, which was involved in several areas of criminal activity, including fraudulent call centers, the U420 project, and the illegal trafficking of narcotics.

According to a Ukrinform correspondent, this was announced during a briefing by the head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ivan Vyhovskyi.

“The Khimprom criminal group is not just a separate group of individuals, but a ramified criminal scheme and system that has long exerted criminal influence on the territory of Ukraine and in EU countries. This structure is involved in several areas of criminal activity, including drug trafficking, violent crimes, fraud through call centers, and the organization of the large-scale U420 project,” Vyhivskyi noted.

During the briefing, relevant audio recordings of conversations between the suspects were also presented. Among other things, the recordings indicated that opponents of the group’s members were targeted and subjected to coercive pressure.

Over the entire period of Khimprom’s operations, law enforcement officials have notified 23 individuals of their status as suspects, all of whom were involved specifically in the group’s coercive activities.

In addition, fraudulent call centers targeted citizens of European countries. Their activities caused losses of approximately ₴50 million.

According to Vyhivskyi, thousands of covert investigative operations were carried out as part of a series of criminal proceedings, and the roles, connections, and functions of the criminal network were identified.

The work was carried out jointly and under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office, in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

As reported by Ukrinform, police uncovered a group that had organized a bot farm to extort “crypto debts.”