The SBU officers blocked the activities of the criminal group that included residents of Odesa and Kyiv regions.

The perpetrators set up the scheme for smuggling anabolic steroids from Moldova to Ukraine. The unemployed from Vasylkiv sold smuggled potent drugs containing methandienol and nandrolone from the territory of Ukraine to US and EU customers.

The smuggled goods crossed the border with Moldova under the guise of private luggage in regular buses bound for Odesa. Then the dealers placed it in a transit warehouse in Odesa and sent by postal services to Vasilkov, where the main warehouse was located.

Allegedly, the buyers were mostly US and EU citizens. To search for them on the Intenet, the perpetrators created a specialized site where they offered their goods.

In the United States and most EU countries, anabolic steroids are equated with narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances and cannot be legally purchased. So the clients paid a lot of money for them.

The fictitious persons sent the customers parcels with goods through international postal services under the guise of cosmetics, household chemicals and food.

The organizer of the smuggling was caught red-handed in Vasylkiv immediately after receiving another parcel with potent drugs from Odesa.

As part of the investigation, 11 simultaneous searches were conducted at the private vehicles, places of residence and work of the scheme participants and at the addresses of warehouses in Odesa, Kyiv and Vasylkiv. Seized:

• almost 100 kg of potent drugs and more than 100 kg of other drugs with a total cost of almost USD 250,000;
• unused track numbers of JSC Ukrposhta;
• records with illegal accounting and information on sending the drugs abroad.

The organizer of the scheme received a suspicion notice for smuggling.

Investigative actions are underway to identify all persons involved in the scheme. The involvement of postal service and customs officials in the organization of the smuggling scheme is being checked.

The operation was carried out under the supervision of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor's Office.