Beryslav Theft Ring: 4 Arrested for Stealing ₴2M in Copper Amid Shelling

Despite the constant shelling of Beryslav by the Russian military, for several months local residents have been stealing equipment from the enterprise containing non-ferrous metals.

According to Dmytro Hashytskyi, deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the regional police headquarters, last summer, operatives received information from concerned citizens that thefts were taking place periodically at the enterprise in Beryslav, which specialized in the manufacture of power equipment in peacetime.

"The attackers were detained at the end of September last year at one of the checkpoints after committing another theft," the statement said.

In the body of an SUV and a trailer attached to it, law enforcement officers found two copper coils from an electric transformer and copper winding tapes for electric transformer coils with a total weight of 1420 kg stolen from the enterprise.

The organizer of the criminal group was a 33-year-old resident of Zmiivka, Beryslav district. He involved three other residents of Pokrov, Dnipropetrovs'k region, aged 39, 40 and 46, in the thefts. The group also had an accomplice, a 45-year-old security guard at the enterprise, who let the thieves into the territory for a fee and even personally indicated what could be stolen.

During the searches, the police found ready-to-use copper wires, hundreds of kilograms of non-ferrous scrap metal, tools and equipment used by the thieves during the thefts, and over UAH 300,000 in proceeds from the sale of scrap metal and the sale of wires. The SBU also seized a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher and a grenade from the group's organizer.

In total, the company suffered losses of almost two million hryvnias. Investigators of the Beryslav District Police Department have now completed the pre-trial investigation against the organizer and the 40-year-old perpetrator. The indictment has now been approved by the Kherson Specialized Defense Prosecutor's Office of the Southern Region and sent to court.

Theft committed on a particularly large scale or by an organized group is punishable by imprisonment for a term of seven to twelve years with confiscation of property. The organizer of the group also faces liability for illegal handling of weapons and ammunition. The police continue investigative and search activities to establish the involvement of the defendants in committing other crimes.

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