The SSU and the National Police have neutralized a criminal organization that massively forged and sold Ukrainian and EU documents.

As a result of the operation, nine members of the group were detained in several regions of Ukraine.

The network offered counterfeit documents for legalization in foreign countries, including the EU states.

These included fake passports, EU residence permits, driver’s licenses and car registration certificates.

The costs ranged from USD 300 to 700, depending on type and number of counterfeits.

The investigation documented that the perpetrators had ‘performed’ up to fifty orders per day.

The criminal organization operated in Kyiv, Zakarpattia, Kharkiv, Odesa, Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

The clandestine printing houses were set up in rented apartments and the suspects’ own homes in Kharkiv and Mukachevo.

The forgers installed special computer equipment and printers for printing on plastic cards with the use of holographic film.

The ‘products’ were offered to ‘clients’ in specially created Telegram channels and sent via postal services.

During the searches at the suspects’ homes and in the workshops, the SSU found:

• counterfeit documents, fake seal and stamp impressions;
• equipment for the illicit production;
• computers, mobile phones and records with evidence of the crime;
• bank cards to which the falsifiers received payments.

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

• 255.2 (creation, management of a criminal community or criminal organization and participation in it);
• 28.4, 199.3 (production, storage, acquisition, transportation, sending, import to Ukraine for the purpose of use in the sale of goods or sale of counterfeit money, government securities in paper form, state lottery tickets, excise tax stamps or holographic security elements);
• 28.4, 358.3 (forgery of documents, seals, stamps and forms, sale or use of forged documents, seals, stamps).

One of the organizers, who is hiding abroad, was notified of suspicion in absentia under the same Articles of the CCU.

The operation was carried out by the SSU Main Directorate for Internal Security in cooperation with the National Police under the supervision of the Prosecutor General’s Office.