The Main Intelligence Directorate, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Navy have dismantled a maritime smuggling route from Abkhazia and seized a Russian drone carrying explosives
Members of the ‘Timur Special Unit’ of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, in conjunction with the Security Service of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Navy, have concluded a multi-stage special operation that lasted over a year.
As a result, law enforcement officers exposed and dismantled an organised criminal group involved in the smuggling of excise goods, the illegal smuggling of persons across Ukraine’s state border, and the movement of explosive devices from the Russian-controlled territory of Abkhazia.
According to the investigation, the suspects used civilian vessels to transport large consignments of tobacco products across the Black Sea. Among the contraband cargo, they concealed weapons and Russian-made unmanned aerial vehicles.
Law enforcement officers established that the route passed through the area of Zmiinyi Island. There, the cargo was transferred from the main vessel to small boats for onward transport to the coast of the Odesa region.
The organisers of the scheme also attempted to exploit resources from Ukraine’s security and defence sector to provide logistical support for the illegal shipments. All stages of the group’s activities were documented, and its members identified.
During the final phase of the special operation, four members of the group were detained whilst attempting to illegally transport a person across the state border and deliver another consignment of contraband to the Odesa port area.
According to the SBU, the organiser of the smuggling channel is an Odessa-based businessman who is currently abroad and involved in illegal business activities in the temporarily occupied Abkhazia. The investigation believes that he collaborated with Russia’s FSB and agreed to deliver a combat drone to Odessa.
He enlisted three Odessa residents and a local border guard to carry out the scheme, with the latter tasked with facilitating the unhindered passage of vessels to the coast.
It has also been established that during the return journey, the group planned to smuggle the organiser’s brother out of Ukraine.
During searches in the Odesa and Chernivtsi regions, law enforcement officers seized 1,800 cartons of counterfeit tobacco products, communication devices, documentation, illegally modified automatic weapons and a Russian drone equipped with a warhead, which had been concealed amongst the contraband cargo.
The detainees have been informed of their status as suspects in relation to the illegal smuggling of persons across Ukraine’s state border. Law enforcement officers are also considering additional charges against the suspects for the smuggling of weapons and excise goods, as well as bringing other participants in the scheme to justice.
A notice of suspicion is being prepared in absentia for the organiser of the smuggling route. According to the investigation, the suspects face up to 12 years’ imprisonment with confiscation of property.
The investigation is continuing under the procedural supervision of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
