The SSU and the National Police have dismantled an organized criminal group that terrorized residents of Dnipro city.

The criminals extorted money from small businesses. To do this, they provoked conflict situations or came up with artificial debts, and then demanded payments from the victims.

In case of refusal, the racketeers would kidnap their victims and take them to a torture chamber in a basement.

There, they would tie people to a chair and beat them, threatening with violence and death against the victims and their families.

The SSU documented the episode of extortion from a local IT entrepreneur.

The perpetrators demanded a ‘compensation’ for a business project in which they had supposedly invested and which ‘was not implemented’.

According to the investigation, the racketeers took the IT specialist blindfolded to the basement and tortured him.

He agreed to pay and sent part of the amount in cryptocurrency. To pay the rest, he had to ask his relatives for help.

Holding the man in his own car, the gangsters drove him to the addresses of his relatives until he collected the full amount.

The crime ring planned to expand their influence and force most small businesses to pay a ‘tribute’.

The SSU and the National Police detained the group’s organizer and his accomplice.

According to the investigation, they were representing local criminals who had previously been prosecuted for serious crimes.

During the searches of the suspects’ homes, weapons and ammunition were seized, as well as a large amount of cash and mobile phones with video evidence of the crimes.

The detainees have been notified of suspicion under three Articles of the CCU:

• 146 (illegal imprisonment or abduction of a person);
• 189 (extortion);
• 263 (illegal handling of weapons, ammunition or explosives).

The suspects are in custody and face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property. The investigation is ongoing.

The operation was carried out by the SSU Office in Dnipropetrovsk region jointly with the National Police under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor’s Office.