$8,000 for escape: a man smuggling channel was stopped in Transcarpathia

In Transcarpathia, law enforcement officers stopped the activities of an illegal channel that organized the departure of men of military age outside Ukraine. The criminal scheme was discovered by officers of the Mukachevo Border Guard Unit, where the main figure was a 39-year-old man, a native of Transcarpathia, who currently lives in Kyiv.

According to the investigation, the organizer turned out to be a military man, also a deputy of one of the district councils of the Transcarpathian region. Law enforcement officers managed to record illegal activities using materials collected by investigators. Based on the data received, the prosecutor’s office opened criminal proceedings under Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine regarding the illegal smuggling of persons across the state border.

The investigation established that the suspect, while in Kyiv, was looking for clients who sought to travel abroad illegally. He organized their delivery to the border regions, provided temporary accommodation and food, and provided recommendations on crossing the border to Romania. The man also advised his “clients” on further actions in the territory of another country.

For his services, he demanded 8 thousand US dollars from each client. The detention took place in the Kyiv region while receiving another amount of illegal profit. The suspect has already been charged under Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The operation to expose the crime was carried out by officers of the Mukachevo Border Guard Unit together with representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kyiv and the region. The procedural management in this case is carried out by the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.