A soldier has been arrested in the Donetsk region on suspicion of selling his unit’s drones
Officers from the State Bureau of Investigations, working in conjunction with the Security Service of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service, have identified and detained a soldier in the Donetsk region who is suspected of selling his unit’s drones.
According to the investigation, a senior combat medic in the unmanned aerial vehicle company of one of the battalions of the military unit decided to appropriate the unit’s property. Investigators believe that he stole 16 Ukrainian-made drones and, through acquaintances, began looking for a buyer, concealing his involvement in the sale.
It has also been established that the equipment was recorded as lost during combat operations, although in fact it never reached the units for which it had been purchased.
Law enforcement officers documented the sale of 16 FPV drones, 16 rechargeable batteries and 17 antennas. The suspect planned to receive 105,000 hryvnias for this set. A buyer was found quickly, as the price of the drones was significantly below market value.
At the end of May, the serviceman was arrested immediately after the handover of the funds. All 16 drones were seized.
According to the investigation, the suspect’s actions caused the state losses of over 550,000 hryvnias.
The soldier was charged under Part 4 of Article 410 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, which concerns the theft of military property during a state of martial law. The article provides for a penalty of imprisonment for up to 15 years.
The court imposed a preventive measure on the suspect in the form of detention with the right to post bail.
The operation to expose the crime was carried out by border guards from the Eastern Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, in conjunction with officers from the Security Service of Ukraine and the Territorial Directorate of the State Bureau of Investigation in Kramatorsk, under the procedural supervision of the Donetsk Specialised Prosecutor’s Office for the Eastern Region.
