DBR employees exposed and stopped the activity of illegal production of alcohol on an industrial scale with forged excise stamps in the Rivne region. About this informs press service of the department.
“The organizer of the illegal business turned out to be a local resident who involved a law enforcement officer and three other civilians in the scheme. They worked at least since September 2024. The dealers manufactured and sold counterfeit alcoholic beverages under the guise of well-known brands of vodka. For this, they purchased ethyl alcohol, reagents and special equipment,” – says the message.
The forgery was manufactured and stored in the rented premises of the garage cooperative in the village of Kvasyliv, Rivne district, and in the city of Rivne. Ready-made alcohol was poured into bottles of 0.5 and 0.7 liters, corked with the help of special machines, marked with fake labels and excise stamps.
The investigation established that the perpetrators managed to produce almost 8.5 thousand liters of falsified alcohol. The main buyers were small shops of the Rivne region. The sellers frankly informed the owners of the outlets that there were no documents for the goods. The law enforcement officer involved in the scheme was personally involved in alcohol production, logistics and delivery. He is currently dismissed from service.
More than 6,000 bottles of falsified products, equipment, and chemicals were seized during searches of counterfeit storage locations. Cash in various currencies in the amount of about 3 million hryvnias and three cars used for transporting goods were seized from the organizer of the scheme.
The law enforcement officer and four accomplices are suspected of illegal manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, purchase and storage of counterfeit excise stamps, committed by an organized group (Part 2, 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 28, Part 2 of Article 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, Part 2, Part 3 of Article 27, Part 3 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 204, part 2, part 3 of article 27, part 3 of article 199 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The sanction provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 12 years with confiscation of property. Criminal proceedings against six sellers who sold falsified alcohol were separately highlighted. The materials have already been submitted to the court. Two of them were found guilty of illegal sales of excise goods (Part 1 of Article 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
Photo: dbr.gov.ua
