In Lviv, an indictment has been submitted to court against two residents of Kherson, suspected of organising the sale of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances via so-called “dead drops”. This was reported by the Halytskyi District Prosecutor’s Office of the city of Lviv.
According to the investigation, a 25-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man worked as “dead droppers” for an online shop operating on the Telegram messenger. They ordered the illegal substances through this service, collected them from concealed locations in the form of “master stashes” and stored them in a rented flat where they lived together.
The suspects then portioned out and sold the drugs and psychotropics, placing “dead drops” around Lviv. According to the investigation, they received payment for this activity to cryptocurrency wallets, with an estimated monthly income of up to UAH 100,000.
Law enforcement officers documented several episodes. At the beginning of January this year, the suspects placed a “dead drop” containing the particularly dangerous psychotropic substance PVP weighing more than 4 g near a forested area in the Sykhiv district. In February, according to the investigation, they left a “dead drop” in a cigarette packet containing mephedrone weighing more than 2 g near St Panteleimon Hospital. In March, another “dead drop” with PVP was placed near Lychakivskyi Park, where the individuals involved were detained by law enforcement officers under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
During a search of the rented flat, significant quantities of illegal substances were seized: cannabis (almost 150 g), psilocybin mushrooms (over 165 g), ecstasy (over 22 g), PVP (almost 25 g), zip-lock bags containing mephedrone (almost 7 g), as well as around 90 tabs of LSD.
The suspects are charged with the illegal acquisition, possession for the purpose of sale, and sale of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances in large and particularly large quantities, committed repeatedly and by prior conspiracy by a group of persons (Part 2, 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of Lviv District Police Department No. 1 of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Lviv Region.
Pursuant to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and may not be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt has been proven in accordance with the law and established by a guilty verdict of a court.