Odesa region: case against spouses for counterfeiting worth 9 million sent to court

Detectives of the Territorial Department of the Bureau of Economic Security in Odesa region have sent to court an indictment against a couple of Odesa residents accused of selling illegally manufactured tobacco and alcoholic beverages with counterfeit excise stamps.

According to the BES press service, the investigation found that a 39-year-old resident of Odesa had been illegally selling cigarettes with counterfeit excise stamps and alcohol for six months without the appropriate permit and license to trade in excisable goods.

The man involved his wife, who carries out legal business activities in shops in the Kotovske village neighborhood and has a license for retail trade in tobacco products, in the illegal activity.

He bought illegally manufactured excisable goods via Telegram and then resold them via Viber messenger, where he regularly posted information about the range of products and their prices. He sent orders by mail throughout Ukraine.

He stored the goods in a garage at the entrance to Odesa, as well as in stores run by his wife.

"During the searches at the offender's residence, storage of excisable goods and in the vehicles used by the offender to transport the goods, the BES detectives found 61,892 packs of tobacco products with counterfeit excise stamps, e-cigarettes, almost 1,750 bottles of alcoholic beverages of unknown origin, barrels and equipment for bottling alcohol," said Serhii Muntyan, Head of the BES in Odesa region.

The seized goods and property worth over UAH 9.5 million were seized. Both defendants were served a notice of suspicion of committing a criminal offense under Part 2 of Article 28 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (committing a crime by a group of persons), Part 1 of Article 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal manufacture, storage, sale or transportation for the purpose of selling excisable goods), Part 1 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (purchase, storage, transportation for the purpose of using counterfeit excise tax stamps in the sale of goods).

Кирило Бойко