Two Tiraspol residents and a Ukrainian citizen convicted for transporting 90 people abroad via Odesa

A Chisinau court in Moldova has convicted two brothers from Tiraspol and a Chisinau native, a Ukrainian citizen, for the illegal transportation of men across the border in Odesa Oblast.

This was reported by the press service of the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Affairs of Moldova.

During the criminal investigation, it became known that in the spring and summer of 2024, members of a criminal group used Telegram and Tik-Tok to identify more than 90 Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 - men who were fit for combat but who sought to avoid military service. At the next stage, the defendants sent them to Odesa to be transported by members of an organized criminal group in the immediate vicinity of the Moldovan border. From there, near the border, they were picked up by the convicts to be smuggled into Moldova outside the official border crossing points, across the left side of the Dniester River, which is not controlled by the Chisinau authorities.

Thus, after the defendants pleaded guilty, the magistrates sentenced the three to fines of 40 thousand lei each, with a ban on passenger transportation for two years, as well as to confiscation of their illegal proceeds from the organization of illegal migration in the amount of more than 500 thousand lei received from the men in Ukraine in cryptocurrencies.

Earlier, the Khadzhibeyskyi District Court of Odesa sentenced two men accused of smuggling men liable for military service across the border to 4.5 and 4 years in prison. In February 2024, the defendants offered a citizen to smuggle him across the state border of Ukraine via the Telegram messenger and scheduled a meeting to discuss organizational issues in this regard, noting that for further assistance, it would be necessary to provide funds in the amount of $500 as a partial payment during the meeting.

Кирило Бойко