The National Police prevented the contract killing of witnesses to a series of high-profile crimes
National Police of Ukraine prevented the contract killing of witnesses in the case of a number of high-profile crimes and exposed an attempt to bribe law enforcement officers for one million dollars.
According to the investigation, the organizer of the attempt was the son of the leader of an influential criminal group from the Dnipropetrovsk region. For a long time, this organization was involved in beatings, assassination attempts, illegal arms trafficking, pressure on business, blackmailing entrepreneurs and legalization of criminal profits through a network of fictitious companies.
Back in 2024, the police of the Dnipropetrovsk region exposed a father and son in possession of an arsenal of weapons. After that, the investigators of the Main Investigative Department of the National Police together with operatives of the Department of Criminal Investigation and the Dnipro Police continued to document the criminal activities of the group. In February 2025, the organization was liquidated, and its leader – the father of the person involved – was detained. He is currently in a pre-trial detention center without bail.
Later, law enforcement officers established that the detainee’s son tried to organize the murder of key witnesses in order to avoid punishment for his father. For committing the crime, he offered the perpetrators 100,000 dollars, of which he gave 10,000 dollars as a deposit.
At the same time, the lawyer of the leader of the group tried to bribe police officers in the amount of a million dollars for assistance in closing criminal proceedings against his client. Part of this sum — $100,000 — he handed over to an intermediary for further transfer to law enforcement officers. During the searches conducted in Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk region, the police seized weapons, surveillance equipment, draft accounting records and electronic media that are of evidentiary value in the case.
The extras were informed of the suspicion of preparation for intentional murder by a group of persons to order (part 1 of article 14, sub-paragraphs 11, 12 of part 2 of article 115 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and of providing an unlawful benefit to an official (part 3 of article 369 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Sanctions of the incriminated articles include life imprisonment. Procedural management in the case is carried out by the Prosecutor General’s Office.
