The Security Service of Ukraine, jointly with the State Bureau of Investigation and the National Police, has dismantled a further seven channels of illicit trade in weapons and ammunition in several regions of Ukraine.

The organisers of these schemes have been detained; they were trading in weapons, including those smuggled out of frontline areas and combat zones.

Among the items seized from the traffickers are the latest russian-made AK-12 assault rifles, grenade launchers, improvised bombs, explosives and ammunition of several calibres.

In Kyiv, the SSU and the SBI exposed two dealers for stealing components for military equipment, including night-vision devices, optical sights, dosimeters and engines.

The investigation revealed that the suspects were acting under the direction of a foreign client – a sanctioned arms dealer, a native of one of the Eastern European countries. He is implicated in covert deliveries of weapons from North Korea to russia.

It has been established that, on the instructions of the ‘arms baron’, both of his accomplices forged technical certificates for the stolen property and sold it as new products.

To find customers, the dealers used their personal connections at military equipment repair depots and other defence facilities without their knowledge.

During the searches of the suspects’ premises, over a hundred components were seized. They have now been transferred to the inventory of one of Ukraine’s mechanised brigades.

In Bukovyna, the SSU Counterintelligence exposed two traffickers in weapons and explosives.

One of them is a local unemployed man who had set up a ‘workshop’ in the basement of his own home to convert starting pistols into combat weapons.

In Chernivtsi, investigators served a notice of suspicion to the deputy commander of a self-propelled artillery division of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for smuggling weapons from the combat zone to the western region under the guise of parcels.

To transport these items, the serviceman enlisted the help of bus drivers whom he knew and who were not aware of the parcels’ contents.

The perpetrator attempted to remove 390 kg of explosives from the front line and sell them, including over 40 kg of plastic explosives, as well as detonators.

In the Cherkasy region, a village council member was exposed for having set up two weapons caches – in his own garage and in the basement of an educational institution.

During the searches, two kilograms of TNT, nearly a thousand rounds of ammunition of various calibres, a hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher, a landmine, two automatic rifles and a batch of combat grenades were seized from the suspect.

In Vinnytsia, a contract soldier was arrested after attempting to ‘make a profit’ by trading in captured weapons.

The SSU caught him when he tried to sell two russian Kalashnikov assault rifles – an AK-12 and an AK-74.

In Odesa, a local repeat offender, who had previously served a prison sentence for theft, was arrested whilst selling improvised explosive devices.

In addition to the IEDs, the suspect hoped to sell electric detonators for explosives and powder charges. He used personal connections from his criminal past to find buyers.

In Dnipro, a man from Kyiv was arrested whilst attempting to sell six Kalashnikov assault rifles and nearly 3,500 rounds of ammunition for them.

The perpetrator had set up a cache in a rented house in the Kyiv region to store the small arms, from where he delivered ‘orders’ to the frontline town.

The detainees have now been notified of their status as suspects under Article 263.1 of the CCU (unlawful handling of weapons, ammunition or explosive substances).

The suspects face up to seven years’ imprisonment.

The operations were carried out under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutors’ Offices.