Odesa Law Enforcement Officer Indicted for Smuggling Conscripts to Transnistria

Employees of the State Bureau of Investigation, with the assistance of the National Police and the State Border Guard Service, have completed a pre-trial investigation into a law enforcement officer from Odesa region who helped conscripts illegally cross the border with unrecognized Transnistria.

According to the SBI press service, the indictment has been sent to court.

In January 2025, the law enforcement officer joined a criminal group that organized illegal "tours" for men liable for military service.

Having information about the location of checkpoints and the border security system, he picked up clients by car, dressed them in military uniforms and took them through checkpoints, explaining that he was taking his colleagues to work. Then he would drop the clients off at a place where they could cross the border unhindered. For their services, the organizers of the scheme charged USD 6 thousand per person, part of the money went to the law enforcement officer.

The materials on other members of the group were allocated to a separate criminal proceeding. In February 2025, the law enforcement officer was detained after receiving another payment.

He is charged with illegal transportation of persons across the state border and obtaining illegal benefits (Article 332 (3), Article 369-2 (2) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). The sanctions of the articles provide for up to 9 years in prison.

Earlier, the State Bureau of Investigation, along with border guards, detained an official of a law enforcement agency in Odesa region on suspicion of setting up a scheme to smuggle men liable for military service across the state border to the Republic of Moldova.

In February, SBI officers in cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine detained a law enforcement officer in Odesa region who was making money from smuggling men of military age across the border.

Кирило Бойко