Police have broken up a drug ring operating across seven regions: drugs worth 700 million hryvnias have been seized
This has been reported by the National Police of Ukraine.
A large-scale special operation was carried out by officers from the Anti-Drug Crime Department in conjunction with investigators, operatives and criminal analysis staff from the Main Department of the National Police in the Ternopil region. Staff from the Ternopil Regional Department of the State Security Service and the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and the region were also involved in exposing the group, whilst force support was provided by fighters from the KORD and RPOP special units.
According to the investigation, each member of the group played a specific role – ranging from the manufacture of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances to their transportation and distribution within the Ternopil region and other regions of Ukraine.
What was seized during the special operation
As part of the investigation, law enforcement officers carried out 54 searches across seven regions. During the operation, they seized laboratory equipment for the manufacture of synthetic drugs, approximately 200 kilograms of methadone and 127 kilograms of opium extract. According to preliminary estimates, the suspects could have produced over 2 million doses of drugs from this raw material.
In addition, police seized around 20 tonnes of precursors, 20 kilograms of cannabis and 25 kilograms of poppy straw. The preliminary black market value of the seized narcotics, psychotropic substances and precursors, according to investigators, amounts to around 700 million hryvnias.
During the special operation, law enforcement officers also shut down a drug laboratory. According to the police, it had been set up on the premises of a former agricultural enterprise covering an area of 300 square metres. In three premises disguised as a farm, the suspects, according to the investigation, were manufacturing methadone, amphetamine and methamphetamine, packaging the products and preparing them for sale.
During the searches, six vehicles, over 202,000 hryvnias, nearly 45,000 US dollars and 11,350 euros were seized. The total value of the confiscated property, according to the police, exceeds 5 million hryvnias.
Investigators have notified twelve suspects of their suspicion under Parts 2 and 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – the unlawful production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transport, dispatch or sale of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues. One further individual was notified of suspicion under Part 1 of Article 317 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – organising or maintaining premises for the illegal use, production or manufacture of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues.
Ten suspects have already been detained in accordance with Article 615 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. They face up to 12 years’ imprisonment. Investigators are preparing a motion to the court for the imposition of preventive measures, and the pre-trial investigation is continuing under the procedural supervision of the Ternopil Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
As a reminder, a test purchase carried out by journalists confirmed that the U420 chain of shops sells drugs disguised as souvenirs. Products advertised as safe contain psychotropic substances, including spice. Among the customers are young people and even minors.
