"Supervisor" advised buying metal shears: scheme to smuggle draft dodgers for $7,000 was uncovered in Lviv region. PHOTOS
Law enforcement officers have uncovered yet another scheme involving the illegal smuggling of men of conscription age across Ukraine’s state border. A 31-year-old resident of the Poltava region is implicated in organising the offence.
According to the State Border Guard Service, operatives from the Mukachevo Border Guard Detachment, working alongside police investigators from Lviv Oblast and staff from the Strategic Investigations Directorate of the Pre-trial Investigations of National Police of Ukraine, established that the perpetrator charged US$7,000 for his services, reports Censor.NET.
Details
The escape route was planned from Lviv through the Khmelnytskyi region, from where the ‘client’ was to be transported directly to the border with Moldova for onward smuggling to one of the EU countries.
The organiser operated remotely – during telephone conversations, he persuaded the man, who acted as his "supervisor", and claimed that the success of the operation was guaranteed only if instructions were followed to the letter. In particular, following the organiser’s instructions, the suspect had purchased a pair of metal shears in advance, which he was to use to cut a hole in the border fence himself.
The suspect has now been notified of the charges against him. The court has ordered him to be remanded in custody. He faces a prison sentence of between seven and nine years.
