Former Ukrainian intelligence officer exposed in Poland for producing and selling counterfeit money
Polish law enforcement officers conducted a special operation, as a result of which seven members of an organized criminal group specializing in the production and sale of counterfeit money were detained. This was reported by Gazeta Wyborcza.
Among those detained was a former employee of the Ukrainian special services, whom the police consider a key figure in the production process. The investigation began at the end of last year, when the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime seized a batch of high-quality counterfeit PLN 500 banknotes.
In the city of Sochaczew, police arrested a Ukrainian couple. During a search of their apartment, a full-fledged technological line for printing banknotes, as well as ready-made printouts of PLN 100 and 200 banknotes, were discovered. Digital mock-ups of money were found on the suspect’s computer equipment, which completely coincided with those that had already entered circulation.
According to the investigation, the detainee is a self-taught counterfeiter, but has deep specialized knowledge in the field of IT and electronics.
“The suspect is a former employee of the Ukrainian special services, who is highly qualified in the field of information technology, which allowed him to create copies of high complexity,” the police noted.
A Russian citizen was detained in Wroclaw as part of the same case, who is considered an accomplice of the Ukrainian. In addition to involvement in financial fraud, the Russian had previously appeared in cases involving the manufacture of narcotics; During the arrest, precursors for the production of methamphetamine were seized from him. Four more suspects were detained in Katowice and Poznań – their role was to provide bank accounts for the legalization of criminal proceeds.
“We have involved economic crime units and cyber police to completely eliminate this network, which operated in several voivodeships at the same time,” a representative of the metropolitan police department emphasized.
The operation was the result of coordinated work by criminal departments of several police departments and metropolitan police departments. Law enforcement officers emphasize that the exposure of this group prevented significant losses for the country’s financial system, as the quality of the counterfeits was extremely high.
The investigation is currently ongoing, and all those detained are in custody. The police do not rule out new arrests, as the analysis of the seized media continues and the channels for distributing counterfeits throughout Poland are being established.
