The Security Service of Ukraine, together with law enforcement officers of the Republic of Poland, stopped the activities of a transnational drug syndicate channeling precursors to Ukraine, which were used for the manufacture and sale of heavy psychotropic drugs. About this informs SBU press office.
As a result of a joint special operation on the territory of both countries, ten members of an international drug gang were detained, who regularly transported wholesale shipments of pseudoephedrine to Zaporizhzhia.
According to the data of the investigation, the monthly profit received by the participants exceeded 100 thousand US dollars. To disguise smuggling, precursors were hidden in containers with baby food and animal feed. Disguised parcels were sent to Ukraine via regular bus flights or with the help of postal services. Each batch weighed about 5 kg — the equivalent of 50,000 pills containing pseudoephedrine.
After the delivery of the substances, some of them were sold through a network of dealers, and the rest were transported to a drug laboratory in the territory of the Dnipropetrovsk region, where amphetamine was manufactured from precursors.
The SBU, together with Polish colleagues, documented the scheme of drug trafficking, identified all those involved, and simultaneously detained the participants. Six people were detained in the countries of the European Union, four more – including the organizer – in Ukraine, in the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Kryvyi Rih.
Two brothers from Zaporizhzhia turned out to be the organizers of the channel. One of them left for the European Union in 2022, where he created the foreign part of the group responsible for smuggling. The other remained in Ukraine and coordinated the supply and sale of prohibited substances. During the searches of the suspects’ places of residence, batches of precursors prepared for sale, ready-made psychotropic drugs, as well as laboratory equipment for their production were found.
Investigators of the Security Service of Ukraine announced that those detained in Ukraine are under suspicion under four articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. In particular, they are accused of smuggling precursors, illegal production and sale of drugs, illegal storage of precursors, as well as organization of places for the production of psychotropic substances. All the detainees are in custody. They face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property. At the same time, the issue of announcing an additional suspicion of creating and participating in a criminal organization is being considered.
Extras detained outside of Ukraine will be held responsible in accordance with the legislation of EU countries. The operation was coordinated by the Main Investigative Department of the SBU and was conducted under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Zaporizhia Region.
