The Security Service of Ukraine has terminated the activities of a group that illegally manufactured and smuggled large consignments of cigarettes to the European Union. The operation was conducted by the officers of the SBU Main Directorate for Fighting Corruption and Organized Crime jointly with the Main Investigation Directorate of the National Police under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The operatives of the special service established that the members of the group grew tobacco in the Kherson region on an abandoned farm. The dealers transported products to Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk regions, where cigarettes under the guise of well-known world brands were produced underground on two lines. One of lines operated in the legal tobacco industry, the other operated illegally.

According to preliminary information, criminals made up to 15,000 packs of cigarettes every day. The finished goods were transported to Zakarpattya region and stored there for further transportation to Europe.

During simultaneous investigations in four regions, law enforcement officers found more than 1.5 million packs of cigarettes and almost 15 tons of ready-to-pack tobacco.

In the framework of the criminal proceedings initiated under Part 3 Art. 28 and Part 3 Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, the investigations are ongoing.