Border guard from Odesa region suspected of organizing illegal border crossing

In early May 2025, an inspector of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine (SBGS) offered his friend, a person liable for military service, to organize an illegal crossing of the state border to Moldova for USD 8,000.

According to the Specialized Defense Prosecutor's Office of the Southern Region, the conscript arrived in Kodyma, Podil district, Odesa region, where he waited for further instructions at a safe house. Later, the border guard sent him a detailed route, screenshots of the area, and provided instructions on how to avoid possible obstacles during the trip. He assured him that the route had already been used for this purpose many times.

"On his instructions, the conscript left 6 thousand US dollars in the apartment as payment for 'services' and kept the rest for himself," the statement said.

At the end of May 2025, the border guard took the man to the outskirts of the village of Lysohirka, Podil district, from where the person liable for military service had to walk about 2.5 km to the place of illegal border crossing. On the same day, law enforcement officers exposed the border guard's illegal actions. The SBGS inspector was detained. He has now been imposed a pre-trial restraint in the form of detention with the possibility of being released on bail in the amount of UAH 454.2 thousand.

Earlier, police detained a resident of Podil district, Odesa region, on suspicion of assisting five men of military age in illegally crossing the state border of Ukraine. The 42-year-old man was served a notice of suspicion and a pre-trial restraint was imposed on him. He faces imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Prior to that, SBI officers together with border guards exposed and stopped a scheme of smuggling men of military age across the state border to Moldova. The organizers included a law enforcement officer, and their monthly income exceeded $80,000.

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