The SSU blocked another four channels used by men of conscription age to illegally depart abroad.

As a result of operations in Dnipro, Odesa and Zakarpattia regions, 8 organizers of illegal traffic were detained.

For money, they ‘guaranteed’ their clients transportation outside Ukraine on the basis of forged documents or outside the established check points.

The offenders charged for their ‘services’ from 1,800 to 7,000 USD per person. The sum depended on the urgency and methods of illegal movement across the border.

The SSU shut down the criminal schemes.

One of the organizers was detained in Dnipro. The offender tried to arrange ‘trips’ of evaders disguising them as persons with disabilities.

To do this, he provided his clients with counterfeited documents: fake temporary certificate with a conclusion on unfitness for military service and a commission’s conclusion on a degree of disability.

To conceal himself, the organizer of the channel did not personally meet the ‘customers’. He used only his personal connections to look for ‘clients’, communicate with them and receive payments. He did not use messengers or e-mail for communication.

However, this did not help the individual in question. The SSU promptly exposed and documented the unlawful scheme.

During the search of the suspect’s home, the law enforcement found 3 ‘sets of documents’ ready for sale.

Another two illegal schemes were dismantled in Odesa oblast.

Within one of them, two residents of Bolhrad district offered locals of call-up age their ‘assistance’ in crossing the border outside the checkpoints.

The offenders were detained when they received money for their ‘services’ and attempted to transport a ‘tourist’ to a neighbouring country.

Another scheme in Odesa region was organized with the participation of a local official. He involved his acquaintance as an ‘intermediary’, who looked via Internet messengers for men willing to illegally cross the border.

The SSU and the SBI detained the organizer of illicit traffic and his accomplice ‘red-handed’ immediately after they received money from another evader and tried to take him across the border.

In Transcarpathian region, illegal transportation of evaders was carried out by a criminal group from Rakhiv district.

The offenders organized traffic across the river, which runs near the state border. To covertly ‘escort’ their clients, they tracked the movement of border guards using a thermal imager.

All the detainees were notified of suspicion of offence under Article 332.3 of the CCU (unlawful transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine). Court chose custody as a measure of restraint for the suspects.

Pre-trial investigations into all the uncovered schemes are ongoing.

The operations were carried out by the SSU Offices in Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions jointly with the internal security units of the State Border Guard Service, investigators of the SBI and the National Police under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor’s Office.