Dec. 16, 2024, 10:45 p.m.
(Photo: State Border Guard Service.)
Border guards used a drone to detect a group of 10 unidentified people in the Podil district of Odesa region.
According to the State Border Guard Service, the residents of Dnipropetrovs'k, Rivne, Kharkiv, Odesa, and Zhytomyr regions tried to illegally cross the Transnistrian segment of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border.
To achieve their goal, they asked the administrator of a telegram channel for help. The latter provided navigation advice, for which, in case of successful crossing, he would receive UAH 120,000 from each client to his account. As instructed by the organizer, the travelers arrived at the designated meeting point and headed for the border.
<span class="ratio ratio-16x9">
Reports of administrative offenses were drawn up against the men under Part 2 of Article 204-1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses "Illegal crossing or attempt to illegally cross the state border of Ukraine", and the cases were sent to court.
Earlier, law enforcement officers detained three men in Odesa region who are suspected of organizing the illegal transportation of persons liable for military service abroad.
The offenders were detained simultaneously in a village directly bordering Moldova and in Odesa. In particular, it is the village of Kruty in Podil district. The detainee was trying to smuggle a man of military age across the Transnistrian segment of the Ukrainian-Moldovan border, having previously accompanied him by public transport.
Money in national and foreign currencies, mobile phones and other items of interest to the investigation were seized from them and their places of residence.
Investigators served the defendants with a notice of suspicion of organizing illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine, directing such actions or facilitating their commission by giving advice, instructions, providing means and removing obstacles, committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy, for mercenary motives. According to the sanction of Article 332(3) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, this crime is punishable by imprisonment for up to nine years with disqualification to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years with confiscation of property. The court imposed on the suspects custody as a measure of restraint with the right to be released on bail in the amount of UAH 600 thousand each.
Кирило Бойко