Arms smuggling from Abkhazia uncovered in the Odesa region
Law enforcement officials in the Odesa region have dismantled a large-scale smuggling ring that operated from the territory of so-called “Abkhazia,” which is under Russian control. According to the investigation, counterfeit cigarettes, as well as weapons and explosives, were illegally transported to Ukraine by sea.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
During a search of trucks loaded from the ship, nearly 1,400 cartons of cigarettes were seized. Among the tobacco products, law enforcement officers also discovered a camouflaged drone containing TNT.
The organizer of the scheme coordinated it remotely from unrecognized Abkhazia. The ship carrying the contraband set sail on May 11 and traveled by sea to a point near Zmiinyi Island outside Ukraine’s territorial waters.
Five people were involved in the scheme, including an operative from one of the State Border Guard Service’s border detachments in the Odesa region. A 53-year-old businessman from the Odesa region handled logistics within Ukraine, while two other accomplices were responsible for accounting for the contraband and transporting participants to the vessel.
Separately, the accomplices planned to illegally smuggle a 38-year-old man across the border who wanted to avoid mobilization. He was to be transported by a small boat to the main vessel near Zmiinyi Island, but they were exposed by law enforcement.
Under the procedural guidance of the Odesa Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the border guard and three other participants in the scheme were notified of their status as suspects under Part 2 of Article 332 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. A notice of suspicion is being prepared in absentia for the organizer, who is currently in Abkhazia.
The court imposed pretrial detention as a preventive measure on the four detainees, with bail set at between 8 and 11 million hryvnias.
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