Three Detained for Smuggling Ukrainian Conscripts to Transnistria for $12K Each

Law enforcement officers detained three men in Odesa region on suspicion of organizing a channel for smuggling conscripts abroad to Moldova's Transnistria region.

According to the press service of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office, the organizer of the scheme, who worked as a taxi driver, offered his passengers illegal travel to unrecognized Transnistria, Moldova, or Romania.

To implement the plan, he engaged two accomplices who were responsible for transportation and border crossing outside official checkpoints. The suspects promised the men safe transportation to the border and an organized meeting on the territory of another state. The price of such services was USD 12 thousand per person.

The suspects were detained while receiving the agreed amount from one person liable for military service. Currently, the suspects have been imposed custody as a measure of restraint with an alternative to bail - the taxi driver in the amount of UAH 1 million 59.8 thousand, and his accomplices in the amount of UAH 900.4 thousand.

According to the police, the client chose the territory of Moldova, temporarily occupied by Russia, as the point of arrival. A few days later, he paid the taxi driver a deposit of 1 thousand dollars. The rest, $11,000, was to be transferred to other transfer organizers - men who were supposed to take him directly to the border by car and show him a walking route bypassing checkpoints.

If proven guilty, the smugglers face up to nine years in prison with disqualification to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to three years and confiscation of property.

Earlier, police detained a driver in Bolhradskyi district of Odesa region on suspicion of trying to smuggle a man liable for military service abroad. Law enforcement officers stopped a VAZ car driven by a man on the outskirts of the city of Bolhrad. The car was occupied by a 30-year-old resident of Dnipropetrovs'k region who intended to illegally cross the state border of Ukraine. The driver was carrying a passenger at night, avoiding checkpoints, toward the border with the Republic of Moldova.

Кирило Бойко