The National Police of Ukraine and the Prosecutor General’s Office report on the successful conduct of a large-scale special operation to eliminate the transnational criminal group “Khimprom”. The activities of the community included the production and sale of synthetic drugs, the operation of fraudulent call centers, and the commission of violent crimes.
The organization is headed by a 36-year-old Russian citizen, known by the nickname “Mexican”, who has been on the international wanted list since 2019.
According to the investigation, the organizer modernized the structure of the group while abroad. The new management model ensured strict conspiracy, where participants from different links did not know each other.
“He went abroad back in 2019, made certain conclusions, modernized the activities of his group so that the participants involved in the criminal processes did not know each other. And he divided the relevant criminal intentions into certain areas,” said Maksym Tsutskiridze, First Deputy Head of the National Police of Ukraine.
One of the key areas was the U420 chain of stores, which specialized in the distribution of products containing synthetic cannabinoids. Production facilities were concentrated in Kyiv and Dnipro. In the last six months alone, the network has grown from 13 to 105 points of sale across the country. The Armed Forces of Ukraine and the public were under threat due to the spread of hazardous substances, the circulation of which was officially restricted in February 2026.
In parallel, the group coordinated the work of a network of fraudulent call centers in Kyiv, Dnipro and Ivano-Frankivsk. The criminals defrauded citizens of the European Union, which became a reason for involving law enforcement agencies in Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic in the investigation. In addition to economic crimes, members of Khimprom were engaged in extortion and intimidation of police families.
Over 280 searches were conducted as part of the special operation, during which equipment, weapons, and property worth over UAH 75 million were seized. The persons involved in the case were informed of suspicions under a number of articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The court chose a preventive measure in the form of detention without bail for those detained on the territory of the state.
The systematic work of law enforcement agencies allowed not only to block the financial flows of the criminal organization, but also to stop the operation of illegal production that threatened national security. Currently, measures are underway to extradite the organizers and bring to justice all those involved in the syndicate’s activities.
