The police have dismantled a weapons supply network for Russian officials and militants
The National Police have dismantled a weapons supply network that was supplying arms to illegal armed groups and criminal organisations, and which were being used as ‘rewards’.
According to the investigation, such weapons were received from the leader of the so-called ‘DNR’, Denis Pushilin, by Kim Jong-un, Bashar Hafez al-Assad, Dmitry Medvedev, Sergey Sobyanin, Sergey Lavrov, Ramzan Kadyrov, Steven Seagal, Yulia Chicherina, Vladimir Solovyov, Alexander Sidyakin and Vladimir Saldo.
The weapons came from two sources. They were either stolen from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or illegally imported from the Slovak Republic.
Specifically, these were Glock-type pistols chambered for Flobert cartridges. After being imported from Slovakia, they were converted into fully functional combat weapons.
The smuggling mechanisms, supply routes and members of the organised group were uncovered in January this year by investigators from the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, in conjunction with the Department of Strategic Investigations.
Following cooperation with Polish law enforcement agencies, some of the suspects, Ukrainian citizens, were detained at the Polish border whilst attempting to illegally import weapons. The weapons were seized, and the indictments were forwarded to the court in Poland.
In Ukraine, investigators notified Denys Pushilin of his status as a suspect under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In April, the police, in conjunction with the SBU’s Military Counterintelligence Department, carried out the second phase of the ‘Black Cartridge’ special operation. Over 30 simultaneous searches took place in Kyiv, Kyiv, Zakarpattia and Sumy regions.
During the investigative operations, over 90 firearms were seized. These included assault rifles, machine guns, pistols, submachine guns, sniper rifles (including large-calibre ones), at least seven grenade launchers and anti-tank weapons.
Dozens of grenades, detonators and fuses, TM-62M anti-tank mines, 30mm artillery ammunition and a lightly armoured ‘Tiger’ vehicle were also seized.
Separately, law enforcement officers seized over 35,000 rounds of ammunition of various calibres, over 150 grenade launcher rounds, rocket motors for them, shaped-charge warheads, smoke grenades and other explosive components.
Part of the arsenal was stored in garages, residential buildings and vehicles. The rest was found in specially equipped caches in the area, the coordinates of which were provided by the suspects.
Fake documents, seals, ID cards, equipment and data storage devices were also seized, which, according to the investigation, were used to cover up their activities and organise logistics.
Expert examinations have now been ordered. The results of these will determine whether new charges will be brought.
Law enforcement agencies are identifying all participants in the scheme, the routes taken by the weapons and the final recipients. The Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine, Europol and the AP Weapons & Explosives analytical project are involved in the operation.
With the assistance of the Department of International Police Cooperation, a virtual coordination centre has been established at Europol to facilitate the exchange of information via secure channels, including the SIENA system.
The ‘Black Cartridge’ special operation is continuing under the procedural supervision of the Office of the Prosecutor General.
