Law enforcement officers expose criminal group that earned about UAH 10M per month from drug trafficking from EU
The Department for Combating Drug Crime of the National Police of Ukraine stated this on its website, according to Ukrinform.
According to investigators, the operation was organized by a 34-year-old Kyiv resident who recruited four accomplices. The group had a clear hierarchical structure and operated according to a defined scheme. To run the drug operation, the leader established contact with an individual residing in one of the EU countries.
"Together, they set up a mechanism for the smuggling supply to Ukraine of a restricted narcotic substance – cannabis extract. The banned substances, in particularly large quantities, were disguised as food products and shipped to Ukraine," the police said.
Law enforcement determined that the suspects filled electronic smoking devices (pod systems) with the cannabis extract. To distribute the drugs, they created and managed an online store through which they accepted orders from "customers."
"The drugs were sent via postal shipments directly to buyers or to accomplices acting as dealers across different regions of the country. The monthly income from this transnational drug business exceeded UAH 10 million," police noted.
With the support of tactical response units of the Patrol Police Department and in cooperation with the Internal Security Unit of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, officers conducted more than 30 searches across Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, and Odesa regions, as well as in the capital.
Authorities seized over 4 kg of illegally imported cannabis extract, enough to produce about 4,000 pod systems. They also confiscated 3.5 kg of gummy candies containing narcotic substances, 721 pod systems filled with cannabis extract, and 3,700 empty pod systems, along with computer equipment, data storage devices, mobile phones, bank cards, SIM cards, ammunition, and six vehicles.
The total value of the seized drugs on the black market exceeds UAH 17 million, police emphasized.
The organizer of the criminal activity has been detained, and he and four accomplices have been served notices of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation, shipment, or sale of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, or their analogues).
The suspects face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
The issue of pre-trial detention as a preventive measure is currently being decided.
The cross-border drug trafficking scheme was exposed and dismantled by operatives of the Department for Combating Drug Crime together with investigators of the Main Investigative Department of the National Police, in cooperation with regional anti-drug units and under the procedural supervision of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
As Ukrinform reported, Ukrainian law enforcement agencies recently dismantled an international cocaine supply channel from Latin America.
