A foreigner tried to smuggle an Odesa resident abroad

Odesa police detained a foreigner on suspicion of organizing the illegal transportation of Ukrainians abroad.

According to the press service of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa Oblast, the suspect was detained while providing services to an Odesa resident.

In return for $7,500, the dealer was to provide the client with a free route to unrecognized Transnistria: part of the amount was intended for the organizer, and the rest for several men from Odesa region hired by him to transport the client.

Under instructions, the Odesa resident arrived on his own to one of the settlements of Rozdilnyansky district, where he got into a car with the carriers, paid them $1,000, and went with them towards the state border. There, the organizer of the criminal scheme was waiting for the passenger and received $6,500 from him. Then the foreigner was supposed to tell the conscript a detailed walking route to a neighboring country, but he did not have time to fully implement his criminal plans because he was detained in a procedural manner.

Investigators seized the illegally obtained cash, mobile phones and a car as material evidence and applied to the court for their arrest.

According to the investigator in the case, Iryna Buchumash, based on a sufficient amount of evidence collected, the detainee was served a notice of suspicion of organizing illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine, facilitating its commission by advice, instructions, for mercenary motives. If found guilty, the man faces imprisonment for up to nine years with disqualification to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years and confiscation of property. At the request of the investigators, the court imposed on the suspect a custodial measure of restraint with the right to be released on bail in the amount of UAH 262.2 thousand.

Кирило Бойко