A network smuggling men to Slovakia for $26,500 has been uncovered in Zakarpattia
Officers from the State Border Guard Service, in collaboration with the National Police, have uncovered a human trafficking ring operating across the Ukrainian-Slovak border.
According to the investigation, three residents of Zakarpattia Oblast and one resident of Kyiv Oblast were involved in organising the scheme. They sought out people willing to leave Ukraine illegally, provided them with accommodation in hotels and transported them to border areas.
The guide was detained along with two men a kilometre from the state border. They paid the organisers $26,500 for the illegal crossing.
During searches, law enforcement officers detained three more members of the group. Cash, cars, mobile phones, bank cards and other material evidence were also seized.
Furthermore, it was established that one of the suspects had been using forged documents and international police badges.
Four members of the scheme have been detained and informed of the charges against them.
The court imposed preventive measures on the suspects. Some of the suspects were remanded in custody with bail set at between 166,000 and 266,000 hryvnias, whilst another suspect was placed under 24-hour house arrest.
