Two Zakarpattia SSU Officers Suspected of Smuggling
Two employees of the Security Service of Ukraine in Transcarpathia are suspected of organizing the illegal crossing of the border of two men subject to military service. According to the SBI, they demanded $16,000 per person, and the total amount was supposed to be $33,000.
This was reported by the State Bureau of Investigation.
According to the investigation, law enforcement officers were negotiating with two residents of the Lviv region about illegally crossing the border. They were informed via messengers of the place of crossing, the cost of the service, and other details. For an additional fee, the men were also offered unhindered travel from Lviv to Transcarpathia.
One of the SSU officers picked up the men in Lviv and took them to Uzhhorod. He used his official ID to pass through the checkpoints. In Uzhhorod, the men were placed in the apartment of one of the suspects. From there, another law enforcement officer took them to the border crossing with Slovakia. According to the State Bureau of Investigation, the total amount for organizing the illegal departure of the two men was $33,000. They managed to transfer part of the money to the suspects.
Before the men were directly smuggled across the border, law enforcement officers uncovered the scheme.
Two SSU employees were charged with aiding the illegal smuggling of people across the state border, committed by a group of individuals in a prior conspiracy and for selfish motives — Part 3 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. The sanction of the article provides for up to nine years of imprisonment.
We previously reported that a college official in the Dnipropetrovsk region is suspected of bribery.
