Two prisoners of Drohobych Correctional Colony No. 40 have been convicted for organising and selling methadone among inmates. According to the Lviv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the verdicts have already entered into legal force.
The court sentenced the organiser of the criminal scheme to 9 years and 7 months’ imprisonment with confiscation of property. Another member of the group was sentenced to 9 years and 1 month in prison, also with confiscation of property.
According to the investigation, in January last year a 45-year-old prisoner set up a scheme for selling methadone in the colony and involved two other people in it. The organiser coordinated the actions of the participants, gave instructions regarding orders and sales of the drug, and also distributed the money received from the unlawful activity. The funds were used to reward members of the group and to purchase further quantities of the prohibited substance.
The direct sale of methadone on the territory of the colony was carried out by a 41-year-old inmate recruited by the organiser. According to the investigation, an inspector of the colony’s supervision and security department was responsible for delivering the drug into the facility. He received postal items in his own name, collected parcels containing methadone concealed in clothing and, using his official position, brought them into the closed institution, where he handed them over to his accomplice for sale. The price of one gram of methadone for inmates was 2,400 UAH.
To maintain secrecy, members of the organised group used code words and phrases during telephone conversations to conceal the true content of their communications. In August last year, the group’s activities were halted. During a search of the inspector’s car, packages of methadone and cannabis prepared for transfer into the prison were found and seized.
The organiser was charged with organising the unlawful acquisition, storage, transportation and shipment for the purpose of sale, as well as the sale of narcotic substances in places of detention under Part 3 of Article 27 and Part 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The perpetrators were charged with unlawful acquisition, storage, transportation and shipment for the purpose of sale, and the sale of narcotic substances in places of detention under Part 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
In June this year, the court handed down sentences to the organiser and his accomplice from the colony. As for the third member of the group, the inspector of the supervision and security department, the criminal proceedings are still pending before the court.
The pre-trial investigation in the case was conducted by the Territorial Office of the State Bureau of Investigation based in Lviv, with operational support provided by the Lviv Regional Office of the Security Service of Ukraine and the Lviv Office of the Internal Security Department of the National Police of Ukraine, with the assistance of the operational department of State Institution “Drohobych Correctional Colony No. 40”.