From in-body courier deliveries to plans for weekly $200,000 shipments: Ukraine busts cocaine drug trafficking channel from the EU
Kyiv • UNN
Law enforcement officers have dismantled an international cocaine supply channel to Ukraine, organized by a group of citizens from Ukraine, Armenia, the Czech Republic, and Germany. The organizer, who had previously served a sentence for drug offenses in the US, planned to import up to 2 kg of cocaine weekly, with the value of a single shipment exceeding $200,000.
Law enforcement officers have liquidated an international channel for supplying cocaine to Ukraine, the State Bureau of Investigation reported on Friday, writes UNN.
Employees of the SBI, with the assistance of the State Border Guard Service, stopped the activities of a transnational channel for supplying cocaine from EU countries to the territory of Ukraine. The international drug trafficking was organized by a group of citizens of Ukraine, Armenia, the Czech Republic, and Germany. The group operated covertly
Details
According to the SBI, the organizer had previously served a sentence in the United States for drug crimes, and after returning to Ukraine, resumed his activities and involved accomplices in the EU.
According to the SBI, "at the first stage, the perpetrators used inconspicuous methods of transporting small batches of drugs with the involvement of specially selected couriers who hid the drugs in their bodies. Such deliveries were regular and served to check channels and routes."
"Drugs were first transported in small batches by couriers, and at the same time, large-scale deliveries were being prepared, including using sea logistics through Odesa. Cocaine was planned to be imported up to 2 kg weekly," the SBI said.
The value of one such batch on the illegal market exceeded 200 thousand US dollars, the bureau noted.
In Odesa, SBI employees, as reported, "detained the organizer of the group, he was notified of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine." Detention video.
Procedural guidance - Odesa Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the field of defense of the Southern region.