In Mykolaiv, volunteers sold tons of UN food aid at the market (video).

Four volunteers and a businessman were detained in Mykolaiv for organizing a scheme to sell humanitarian food aid from the UN.

This was reported by the communications department of the Mykolaiv region police.

During the pre-trial investigation, police established that in the spring, four representatives of a charitable organization and a businessman set up a scheme for illegal profit by selling humanitarian aid intended for specific categories of Mykolaiv residents. The perpetrators, after receiving charitable food aid, unpacked cardboard boxes in warehouses, removed the most expensive products, tore off labels marked "not for sale" and "humanitarian aid," repacked them into unmarked containers, and then sold them in one of Mykolaiv's markets in both wholesale and retail at prices below market value.

During the unloading of another batch of humanitarian aid, police apprehended the suspects in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine.

Having obtained court permission, law enforcement conducted more than 40 searches in warehouses, locations of goods sales, residences of the suspects, and in their vehicles. During the investigative actions, police discovered and seized cash totaling over $78,000, nearly €13,000, and almost 1.5 million hryvnias. They also found draft records, nearly 4,500 empty cardboard boxes, 113 empty plastic bags, 290 Euro pallets, and food products including over 3,500 food sets, more than 15,000 empty packages and labels, 1,165 bags of flour, 96 bags and over 32,500 packs of pasta, 1,024 bags and over 8,500 packs of oatmeal, more than 1,000 bottles of oil, thousands of kilograms of salt and sugar, and tens of thousands of canned goods with various types of food rations.

The Mykolaiv regional prosecutor's office reported that the detained individuals received products from the World Food Programme of the UN. Currently, the investigation has confirmed the sale of humanitarian aid goods worth 600,000 hryvnias.

All detainees have been informed of suspicion under Part 3 of Article 201-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine for "Illegal use for profit of humanitarian aid, charitable donations, or gratuitous assistance, committed by an organized group or in particularly large amounts, or during a state of emergency or martial law." The offenders face up to seven years in prison.

Currently, the court has chosen pre-trial detention measures for all suspects, with the possibility of bail set at 6,000,000 hryvnias for one suspect, 3,000,000 hryvnias for another, and 1,200,000 hryvnias each for the remaining three.