Operatives of the Lviv border detachment exposed the perpetrators who organized a scheme for the illegal departure of conscript men abroad.
As law enforcement officers established, in June 2022, a 33-year-old resident of Lviv created a fictitious company on the territory of Ukraine with the aim of organizing the departure of conscripted men aged 18-60 from Ukraine by registering them in the relevant information system, the administrator of which is Ukrtransbezpeka (“Ukrtransbezpeka” Way”). The men, under the guise of drivers of cargo vehicles engaged in international cargo transportation, went abroad with the aim of evading the draft and in the future intended to find employment on the territory of the EU.
In order to ensure the illegal transportation of Ukrainian citizens on cargo vehicles, two drivers of the company who are over 60 years old and to whom restrictions on crossing the state border of Ukraine do not apply during the legal regime of martial law were involved.
The perpetrators were exposed by the operatives of the Lviv border detachment together with the investigators of the Yavoriv district police department of the GUNP in the Lviv region, employees of the Migration Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Lviv region under the procedural guidance of the Yavoriv district prosecutor’s office, with the force support of the special unit “Watch”, with the support of the Criminal Investigation Department analysis of GUNP in Lviv region.
On October 26, law enforcement officers detained the perpetrators in accordance with Art. 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.
In the course of the warranted searches, three vehicles, including two trucks used to smuggle the men abroad, cash in the amount of €7,000, $10,000, mobile phones, laptops, drafts and a significant amount of documents were discovered and seized. which confirm the illegal activity of the participants.
Investigators of the territorial unit of the police informed the detainees about the suspicion of committing a criminal offense under Part 2 of Art. 332 (Illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the article provides for punishment – deprivation of liberty for a period of three to five years with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for a period of up to three years.
The issue of selecting a preventive measure for the perpetrators is being resolved. The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
Law enforcement officers are identifying all those involved in the organization of an illegal channel for transporting conscripts across the border.