Salt welding and car wash – border guards detained drug smuggling in the insides of large vehicles
More than 9 kg of PVP salt was found on the border with Poland. The contraband was hidden in the insides of large vehicles. The value of the found dope at black market prices may amount to UAH 6.5 million.
The organiser of the drug trade was detained, a 25-year-old resident of Kyiv. The man created and administered a number of Telegram channels that were used to order batches of prohibited substances. In addition, the defendant set up a channel for the supply of psychotropic drugs, amphetamine and alpha-PVP, to European countries and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, disguising them in various techniques. The payment for the “goods” was made exclusively in cryptocurrency, which provided additional anonymity. The monthly income from the illegal activity amounted to almost one and a half million hryvnias.
The detainee was served a notice of suspicion in the crime. He faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
The criminal activity was exposed by officers of the Operational and Investigative Department of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine together with operatives of the 7th Border Guard Carpathian Detachment, operatives of the Department for Combating Drug Crimes and investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police, and officers of the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
Among other things, law enforcement officers documented the facts of smuggling psychotropic substances across the border: at one of the checkpoints, they seized about 4 kg of Alpha-PVP psychotropics packed in welding machines. At another checkpoint, about 5 kg of Alpha-PVP psychotropic substance disguised in high-pressure pressure washers were found and seized.
Law enforcement also conducted searches at the suspect’s place of residence and car. As a result, the vehicle, mobile phones and cash were seized.
National Police investigators detained the organiser of the criminal deal in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. He was served a notice of suspicion under several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:
– Part 3 of Article 305 (Smuggling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their analogues or precursors or counterfeit medicines);
– Part 3 of Article 307 (Illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation, shipment or sale of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances or their analogues).
The court has already chosen a custody as a measure of restraint against the suspect.
The Prosecutor General’s Office is providing procedural guidance.