Law enforcement officers who covered up drug traffickers to be tried in Odesa region
Kyiv • UNN
Three law enforcement officers in Ukraine have been caught extorting up to $10,000 from citizens by threatening them with false drug charges. They are now facing charges of theft and extortion, which carry a sentence of up to 12 years in prison.
Three law enforcement officers who tracked down drug dealers and took money from them without registering criminal proceedings will be tried in Odesa region. This was reported by the State Bureau of Investigation, UNN .
Details
As SBI investigators found out, the illegal money-making scheme was organized by three current and one former law enforcement officers.
The defendants involved the head of one of the Odesa post offices in the scheme and received information from him about customers who could receive drugs in their mail.
After receiving the parcel, law enforcement officers were waiting for the citizen at the exit.
Threatening to prosecute for possession and sale of narcotics, the "dealers in uniform" extorted money from the detainees. The "solution" cost up to 10 thousand US dollars.
So far, the investigation has established five episodes of extortion and theft of money from citizens. Three law enforcement officers and the head of the post office are accused of theft, extortion and obtaining illegal benefits (Art. 146(2), (3), Art. 365(2), (3), Art. 189(4), Art. 185(5), Art. 368(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)
In addition, the former law enforcement officer who participated in the crime is currently on the international wanted list. The materials in his case have been allocated to a separate criminal proceeding.
The men face a sentence of imprisonment for up to 12 years.
Addendum
It is noted that in some cases, the victims of the defendants were people who received ordinary e-cigarettes in parcels, not drugs. However, law enforcement officers threatened them that they would still be able to prosecute them for drug trafficking.
Sometimes law enforcement officers would take a person with a parcel to his home, where they would conduct an illegal search and take the money they found in addition to a bribe. In one of the episodes, in addition to the $10,000 "payoff," they stole almost $100,000 from the man.
Recall
In Zaporizhzhia , the SBI uncovered a schemewhereby the head of the TCC and his accomplices allowed more than 300 men to evade mobilization with the help of forged medical documents, charging 2-3 thousand dollars per person.
