SBU dismantles over 60 drug syndicates since the beginning of full-scale operation
Kyiv • UNN
Since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, the SBU has dismantled more than 60 drug groups that tried to use Ukraine as a transit route for drugs to the EU, seizing 2 billion hryvnias worth of drugs.
Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the SBU has neutralized more than 60 criminal groups that planned to turn Ukraine into a transit country for drugs to the EU. Drugs worth almost UAH 2 billion were seized from the criminals. This was reported by UNN with reference to the SBU press service.
Details
Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, the SBU has has neutralized more than 60 organized groups that were engaged in smuggling hard drugs to the European Union through Ukraine. The SBU seized wholesale consignments of "goods" worth almost 2 billion in hryvnia equivalent.
The SBU conducted a number of important special operations against members of the of the Russian criminal organization Khimprom. Under the coordination of Russian special services, this drug syndicate has been trying to expand its activities in Ukraine since 2014. Its leaders are hiding from justice in Mexico.
According to the SBU, the extensive network of Khimprom members around the world includes almost 1 thousand people who provide monthly illegal profits of the drug cartel in the amount of more than USD 2 million per month.
In August 2023, the SBU dismantled a branch of Khimprom in Kyiv and Sumy regions neutralized a branch of Khimprom in Kyiv and Sumy regions. The detainees include two former officials of the of the National Police for Combating Drug Crimes, who were part of a of a Russian drug syndicate.
The offenders set up two powerful drug laboratories in both regions powerful drug laboratories that provided industrial production of prohibited substances for sale in Ukraine and the EU.
During the searches, 23 tons of of precursors (substances for the manufacture of drugs) and almost 150 kg of finished psychotropic substances.
In general, as a result of the multi-stage implementation of the Security Service during this time:
- 89 drug traffickers were detained and notified of suspicion;
- 34 organizers and active members of drug groups received real prison terms.
Thus, it was possible to prevent the creation of cross-border channels of "uninterrupted" supply of prohibited substances to the EU. For example, in October 2023, the SBU, together with Romanian law enforcement agencies, eliminated smuggling drug trafficking from Iran to European countries.
As a result of complex measures in Odesa, the following were detained members of an international group who tried to smuggle to the European Union almost 200 kg of Iranian heroin under the guise of exporting dates.
In addition, at the end of August this year, the SBU detained four drug traffickers who had smuggled 2 tons of illegal substances from East Asia to Ukraine. substances. These were precursors for the production of particularly dangerous psychotropic substances PVP and mephedrone, which the criminals transported under the guise of construction mixtures. According to the available data, the offenders planned to transport the "goods" to the EU for sale through their own drug dealers.
