The offender, posing as a guide, would take his “clients” to the border by car, and then his accomplices would bring them to Hungary through a forest belt. Investigators have now served the detainee a notice of suspicion, and the court has chosen a custody as a measure of restraint. The offender faces up to nine years in prison for the crime.
On April 23, operatives of the Strategic Investigations Department in Lviv region and investigators of the Regional Police Investigation Department detained the organizer of an illegal channel for fugitives to travel abroad at a gas station in Lviv district. The offender was a 43-year-old resident of Vinnytsia.
The police found out that the suspect was looking for conscripts among his friends who wanted to leave Ukraine. In his own car, he drove the “evaders” to the border with neighboring Hungary, while other people took them across the state border through a forest belt outside official checkpoints. In addition, the offender gave the men detailed instructions on how to proceed once they were in another country. In particular, he advised them to call themselves refugees to avoid deportation. The offenders estimated their “services” at 8000 euros.
Law enforcement officers detained the organizer of the illegal channel for fugitives’ departure abroad when he received money from the “client”.
Investigators served the offender a notice of suspicion under Part 3 Art. 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, and the court imposed a custodial detention with the right to post UAH 242,000 bail. The suspect may face up to nine years in prison for illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine.
Other persons involved in the illegal activity are currently being identified.
The operation was conducted jointly with the officers of the Operational and Investigative Department of the 7th Border Guard Carpathian Detachment (Lviv) of the State Border Guard Service. Procedural supervision in the criminal proceedings is carried out by the Lviv Region Prosecutor’s Office.
The Strategic Investigations Department
of the National Police of Ukraine