Grenades, assault rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition: traffickers of trophy weapons exposed in three regions of Ukraine

Law enforcement officers exposed six criminals who were engaged in the illegal sale of weapons in three regions of Ukraine. This was reported by UNN with reference to the Security Service of Ukraine.

Details

During complex operations in Kyiv, Mykolaiv and Lviv regions, six organizers of illegal business were detained.

The criminals tried to sell military munitions found in the de-occupied regions of Ukraine to criminals. Among the seized items are Russian grenade launchers, Kalashnikov rifles and more than 20 thousand rounds of ammunition.

In particular, in Lviv region, law enforcement officers exposed two heads of a local charity fund who were clandestinely selling weapons. According to the investigation, one of them traveled to former battlefields under the guise of "volunteer trips" to collect weapons.

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He passed the found "trophies" to his accomplice, who kept them in a specially equipped cache in the attic of his own house. The defendants then tried to sell the weapons to local criminals. For example, they offered AK-74 and AKS-74 assault rifles for 500 US dollars per unit.

During the searches, the offenders' weapons were seized:

• RPG-26 grenade launcher;
• 6 AK-74 and AKS-74 assault rifles;
• MON-50 anti-personnel mine;
• RGD-5 and F-1 grenades;
• tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition for small arms.

Also, in Kyiv region , a local businessman was red-handedly detained while trying to sell a military arsenal, which included more than 20 fragmentation grenades and hand-held anti-tank grenade launchers.

After the detention, searches were conducted in the offender's garage, where they additionally found a Kalashnikov assault rifle and more than 1.5 thousand rounds of ammunition of various calibers. According to the available data, he collected the seized weapons in local settlements that were under occupation at the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia.

In addition, three criminals were exposed in Mykolaiv region. The men were selling trophy weapons and ammunition found at the former occupants' combat positions.

To store the military products, the offenders set up a cache in a forest belt near the regional center. During its inspection, the SBU found combat grenades and a batch of ammunition.

Investigations are currently underway to bring the perpetrators to justice. All seized weapons and ammunition will be transferred to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Recall

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said that "in the  hands" of Ukrainians there may be from one million to five million trophy weapons, and he is not talking about short-barreled weapons, but automatic weapons, grenades, mines, etc.