In Odesa region, seven men were smuggled across the border

Law enforcement officers prevented a group of people from illegally smuggling seven Ukrainians liable for military service to Moldova across the border in Odesa region.

According to the press service of the Main Directorate of the National Police in Odesa region, a 45-year-old resident of Odesa region, together with a 44-year-old native of Donetsk region without a permanent place of residence, conspired with an unidentified person to smuggle men from Odesa, Khmelnytsky, Kharkiv, Dnipro, Mykolaiv and Zaporizhzhia regions to the Ukrainian-Moldovan border and show them a walking route to the neighboring country, which would not have border patrols at that time. At the same time, the Donetsk resident planned to leave the country himself.

The police documented how he gathered all the clients in Odesa region, after which his local accomplice took them all to the border in Rozdilnyansky district for a promise of a 5,000 UAH reward. There, the police, together with border guards, stopped them, preventing them from completing the deal.

Border guards drew up protocols against the men who were going to illegally cross the state border of Ukraine, including the younger suspect, under Article 204-1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses. The men face a fine or administrative arrest.

The police, for their part, detained both carriers in accordance with the procedural procedure and seized mobile phones and the vehicle they used to transport customers as material evidence. The court granted the investigators' motion and seized the property.

Based on the evidence collected, the investigators notified the detainees of suspicion, depending on their actions, under Parts 2 and 3 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - of illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine, by providing means, advice and instructions, committed against several persons, by prior conspiracy by a group of persons, in particular for mercenary motives.

The suspects face imprisonment for up to seven and up to nine years, with disqualification to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years, including confiscation of property.

The court imposed a pre-trial restraint on them: the older one in the form of custody with the right to be released on bail in the amount of UAH 454 thousand, and the younger one in the form of nightly house arrest.

Кирило Бойко