Odesa police dismantled interregional channel for selling weapons on black market. PHOTOS
In the Odesa region, National Police officers dismantled an interregional channel for selling weapons on the black market.
Three dealers from the Lviv region were making money from illegal arms trading, according to Censor.NET.
The goods were transferred from hand to hand or by mail, carefully disguised. Payment was received in the same way. The participants in the deal were detained and charged.
Details of the investigation
As it turned out, three residents of the Lviv region, aged 34 to 46, were involved in the criminal enterprise. Weapons were delivered personally to customers in Lviv. When orders were received from non-local "customers," the goods were sent by post. In order not to attract unnecessary attention at the post office, they indicated that they were sending sports nutrition products.
They only took on work after receiving full payment in advance – $1,000 per unit. If the order took a long time to arrive, the buyer received a "pleasant bonus" – additional accessories for the automatic weapon. The criminals demanded that those wishing to own a "long barrel" pay exclusively in cash.
However, customers had to come up with various ways to conceal the money. In one case, the funds had to be hidden in a book with a homemade hiding place and sent as a gift.
A series of authorised searches were conducted on the suspects.
The police documented the illegal activities of the criminals. During the searches, they found and seized more than $40,000 in cash, weapons, various types of grenades, and ammunition.
Police investigators have already announced their suspicions to the dealers - illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives. The sanction of the incriminated article provides for punishment in the form of imprisonment for up to 7 years.
Currently, the suspects have been placed under preventive measures – detention with the right to post bail ranging from more than 90,000 to over 2 million hryvnias, depending on their roles. The investigation is ongoing.
