The SBU officers exposed and blocked the activities of an organized group of the car thieves, coordinated by one of the Russia’s “criminal authorities”.

Allegedly, the group includes mostly previously convicted natives of one of the North Caucasus countries. Moreover, the attackers used their ties in criminal circles from other regions of Ukraine (i.e. Kharkiv, Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions) and abroad. The offenders turned the signaling system off and stole the property from the vehicles, which were parked near entertainment and office centers of the city, using special electronic devices (so-called code grabbers). The suspect conducted several dozen of threats.

SBU officers together with the operatives from the “Alpha” special unit conducted searches at the suspects’ residences in the city and region. The law enforcement seized special devices intended for the automotive signaling code reader, stolen property and money, as well as firearms during the investigation.

Currently, two active group members have been detained under Art. 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. The issue of serving a notice of suspicion of committing the crime to the detainees is being decided.

The urgent investigative actions on identifying and detention of all persons involved in crime committing are under way.

The detection operation is conducted under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor's Office of Kharkiv region.