Elite cars, currency, and amphetamines: authorities have dismantled a drug cartel operating in the Mykolaiv region.

In ten regions of Ukraine, including Mykolaiv, the National Police conducted a two-stage special operation aimed at dismantling a criminal organization that laundered millions in profits through bank accounts of thousands of fictitious individuals.

This information was reported by the National Police of Ukraine.

The criminals packaged and distributed precursors for the industrial-scale production of methamphetamine. The products were sold via postal shipments or through "master stash" methods, reaching a network of 18 drug laboratories operating across six regions of the country. Monthly, over 60 kg of methamphetamine were produced from this raw material and sold through contactless methods via anonymous Telegram channels, with profits reaching 18 million UAH per month.

Operatives from the Department for Combating Drug Crime, in collaboration with the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, identified the criminal organization responsible for the direct sale of precursors. The leader of the group was accountable for the continuous supply and distribution of raw materials for methamphetamine production. His subordinates packaged several kilograms of the prohibited goods daily in rented apartments, which they changed every two weeks. They then sent the precursors to drug laboratories by mail or through "stash" methods, using a disposable SIM card for each transaction, which was destroyed immediately after sending.

Law enforcement established a separate group of offenders involved in the legalization of the obtained income in Kyiv. They sought individuals willing to provide their personal information for the opening of bank accounts in exchange for payment and created personal accounts in mobile applications, where millions in earnings from the illegal sale of precursors for methamphetamine production were later deposited. Consequently, the suspects attracted over a thousand fictitious individuals, from whose accounts more than 200 million UAH were withdrawn within a year to two deposit cryptocurrency wallets, which were subsequently cashed out in Cyprus.

More than 300 police officers from the Main Investigation Department, the Department for Combating Drug Crime, and the narcotics crime units of the National Police in the regions of Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Lviv, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Sumy, Chernihiv, and Odesa were involved in the dismantling of the drug cartel. This operation was supported by the Special Police Unit and the State Border Guard Service, under the procedural guidance of the Office of the General Prosecutor and regional prosecutor's offices.

During the two-stage special operation, they conducted over a hundred searches across ten regions of the country and in Kyiv, discovering and seizing luxury vehicles, more than 80,000 dollars in various currencies, 60 kilograms of cannabis, 7 kg of a-PVP, 3.5 kg of methamphetamine, 900 units of "MDMA," a batch of fictitious bank accounts and SIM cards, along with other evidence of the committed crimes.

Eleven suspects were detained under Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. Police investigators gathered sufficient evidence and announced suspicions against sixteen members of the drug cartel. Depending on their level of involvement, they face charges under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine:

•⁠ ⁠Part 2 of Article 255 (creation, leadership of a criminal community or organization, and participation therein);

•⁠ ⁠Part 3 of Article 307 (illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation, shipment, or sale of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, or their analogs);

•⁠ ⁠Part 3 of Article 311 (illegal production, manufacture, acquisition, storage, transportation, or shipment of precursors);

•⁠ ⁠Part 3 of Article 209 (legalization (money laundering) of property obtained through criminal means).

According to the charged articles, the suspects face up to 12 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Investigative actions are ongoing, and other members of the drug cartel are being identified.