Law enforcers expose shadow market of oil products in Odesa region

Law enforcement officers exposed a large-scale network of illegal gas stations in Odesa region. The stations operated without licenses and tax records.

This was reported by the press service of the Bureau of Economic Security in Odesa region.

Detectives of the Bureau of Economic Security shut down a large-scale network of illegal gas stations in Odesa region. The gas stations operated without cash registers and accounting systems, causing the state to lose significant tax revenues.

According to the press service, illegal gas stations were often set up in abandoned warehouses or trucks, and employees were paid in cash. BES detectives exposed one of the networks in Tatarbunary and Spaske village.

Another case was recorded in Bilyayivka: a man was selling fuel to locals at a price below the market price, using barrels of counterfeit fuel on the territory of a legal gas station. The station belonged to his son, and the man even marked the illegal gas station on Google Maps.

In Teplodar and neighboring settlements, two men installed gas station equipment on rented plots and sold gasoline and diesel of unknown origin on an industrial scale without a license. Detectives uncovered several more gas stations equipped with modern equipment near Odesa - in Illichanka village, 7 km market, Dobroslav and Bilyayivka.

The BES emphasized that since the beginning of the year, law enforcement officers have shut down 28 illegal gas stations in Odesa and the region. Almost 210 thousand tons of counterfeit fuel worth more than UAH 19 million were seized. Seven criminal proceedings against 10 people over the illegal manufacture, storage and sale of excisable goods have been brought to court, and the full range of people involved in the illegal business is being identified.

In early September, a case was brought to court in Odesa against a resident of the Berezivska community who organized an illegal network of gas stations. Law enforcement officers seized over 33,000 liters of counterfeit fuel worth over UAH 3 million. The entrepreneur used special software for accounting and sale of illegal fuel to organize the work, and hired two people to service the gas station, who directly sold gasoline and diesel to customers.

Анна Бальчінос