Two-stage special operation of National Police: criminal organisation that sold raw materials for amphetamine and withdrew over UAH 200 million from Ukraine is liquidated. PHOTOS

The National Police conducted a two-stage special operation to eliminate a criminal organisation that was laundering millions in profits through the bank accounts of thousands of straw persons.

This was reported by Censor.NET with reference to the Communications Department of the National Police.

How did the criminal organisation operate?

As noted, operatives of the Department for Combating Drug Crimes, together with the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, established a criminal organisation that was engaged in the direct sale of the precursor. The leader of the group was responsible for the continuous supply and sale of raw materials for the manufacture of amphetamine. His subordinates packed several kilograms of the illicit drug daily in rented apartments, which were changed every two weeks. They then sent the precursors to drug labs by post or through "layings" - each time they used a disposable SIM card, which was destroyed immediately after delivery.

"The police, with the assistance of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, identified a separate group of criminals who were engaged in money laundering in Kyiv. They searched for citizens who agreed to provide their data for opening bank accounts for a reward and created personal accounts in mobile applications, where they later received millions in profits from the illegal sale of precursors for the manufacture of amphetamine. In this way, the defendants involved more than a thousand straw men, from whose accounts they withdrew more than UAH 200 million over a year to two cryptocurrency deposit wallets, which were then cashed out in Cyprus," the statement said.

According to the National Police, more than 300 police officers from the Main Investigation Department, the Department for Combating Drug Crimes of the investigative units and the drug crime departments of the Main Department of National Police in Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, Odesa regions and the city of Kyiv were involved in the eliminating of the drug cartel, with the support of the KORD and Special Forces police, together with the State Border Guard Service, under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General's Office and regional prosecutors' offices in the regions.

Details of the special operation

During the two-stage operation, more than a hundred searches were conducted in ten regions of the country and the city of Kyiv, and luxury cars, over $80,000 in various currencies, 60 kilograms of cannabis, 7 kg of "a-PVP", 3.5 kg of amphetamine, 900 pieces of "MDMA", a batch of fake bank accounts and SIM cards, and other evidence of the crimes were found and seized.

Detention of the defendants

The 11 defendants were detained in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Police investigators have gathered sufficient evidence and served suspicion notices to sixteen members of the drug cartel. Depending on the degree of involvement, they are being prosecuted under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

- p. 2, Art. 255 (Establishment, leadership of a criminal community or criminal organisation, as well as participation in it);

- p. 3 of Art. 307 (Illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation, shipment or sale of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues);

- p. 3 of Art. 311 (Illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation or transfer of precursors);

- p. 3 Art. 209 (Legalisation (laundering) of the proceeds of crime)