Fraudsters exposed: promised to change article for 5.6 million UAH to detainee for smuggling
Kyiv • UNN
Two fraudsters demanded 5.6 million UAH for changing the article for a suspect in drug smuggling. They were detained while receiving the funds.
A 50-year-old man was detained in Zakarpattia for attempting to import cocaine and hashish into Ukraine. While he is in custody, he was promised a change of article – the fraudsters valued the services at 140 thousand US dollars, but they were also exposed and detained by law enforcement officers.
UNN reports with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General.
Details
The dealers offered the wife of the suspect in cocaine smuggling to change the qualification of the article under which he was notified and to change the preventive measure, but they were detained while receiving funds for the services - the "helpers" asked for UAH 5.6 million for assistance to the defendant.
Context
A 50-year-old man was detained in July 2025 in Zakarpattia while attempting to import more than half a kilogram of cocaine and 1 kg of hashish into Ukraine. The detainee was notified of suspicion of smuggling from Spain and the Netherlands to Ukraine (Part 3 of Article 305 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine) and a preventive measure in the form of detention without the right to bail was chosen.
Acquaintances of the suspect's wife promised to help change her husband's preventive measure to house arrest.
It was about reclassifying the imputed offense. In addition - to achieve exemption from criminal liability.
The dealers valued their services at 140 thousand US dollars (equivalent to UAH 5.6 million)
They were detained - the defendants are a man and a woman; the detention took place in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code while receiving 135 thousand US dollars.
The actions of the detainees were qualified as a completed attempt at fraud committed on a particularly large scale (Part 2 of Article 15, Part 5 of Article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).
The suspects were remanded in custody with the possibility of bail.
Recall
Law enforcement officers liquidated a drug smuggling channel, seizing cocaine worth almost 7 million hryvnias. The organizer, a resident of Lviv, involved international drivers to transport drugs, which were then sold in Ukraine.