Members of a volunteer organization detained in Odesa for selling reservations

Police officers, the Security Service of Ukraine and the Border Guard Service conducted 60 searches in Odesa and detained five members of a volunteer organization on suspicion of abuse of influence and obstruction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This was reported by the Center for Public Investigations with reference to the State Border Guard Service.

A group of five people issued fictitious membership in a public organization to men of mobilization age and issued certificates promising to resolve issues with territorial centers of recruitment and social support.

The cost of joining ranged from one to three thousand US dollars. Additionally, participants had to pay 3,000 hryvnias every month, allegedly for training. In case of refusal to pay, they received threats of urgent conscription. According to preliminary data, the monthly profit reached about 30 million hryvnias.

According to the National Police, the group's organizer is a resident of Odesa district. He involved several other people in the scheme.

In total, more than 300 people liable for military service became clients of the detainees. They had access to a closed group in the messenger, where the administrator reported checkpoints, geolocations, and photos of TCC and JV representatives, as well as routes to bypass them.

During the investigation, law enforcement officers documented the facts of repeated transfer and receipt of funds for issuing certificates of members of the NGO. Law enforcement officers conducted more than 60 searches in Odesa and the region and seized weapons, ammunition, six luxury cars, cash in different currencies, mobile phones, draft documentation, certificates, seals and other material evidence.

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VIDEO: National Police

If the detainees are later found guilty of the charges, the members of the NGO face up to 15 years in prison.

In the summer of 2024, the Center for Public Investigations turned to the Main Department of the National Police in Odesa Oblast with a question: which organizations are currently protecting public order in the region together with law enforcement officers. As a result, it received a list of 36 PFs and investigated what kind of structures they are.

PHOTO: National Police, State Border Guard Service

Кирило Бойко