Law enforcers bust fake ID production ring in Ukraine
The SBU press service reported the news on Telegram, according to Ukrinform.
"As a result of a special raid in the Vinnytsia, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv, and Donetsk regions, the organizer of the scheme and eight accomplices were apprehended. Among them is a former official from the disbanded ‘militsia’ (a law enforcement agency reformed into National Police years ago - ed.)," the report says.
The perpetrators offered their clients forged passports, temporary residence permits, and driver's licenses made from UAH 8,000 to 14,000 depending on the document type and urgency.
Taking into account hundreds of "orders" the organization received, their monthly illicit profit is estimated at up to UAH 6 million.
According to the inquiry, among the main clients were also foreigners seeking to legalize their status in Ukraine or travel to the European Union.
It was established that several residents of Odesa together with their accomplices set up an underground shop in a rented apartment in Lviv. To find customers, they advertised their services via Instagram.
For example, a forged ID card of a Ukrainian citizen was sold for an average of UAH 11,000.
The organizers would send the finished "products" across the regions to their accomplices, who then forwarded them to the customers, also by post. The average volume of a one-time wholesale batch of forged documents to a single region amounted from 100 to 500 units.
Based on the evidence collected, all those complicit in the scheme were charged under two articles of the Criminal Code, now facing up to 10 years in prison plus asset seizure.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Security Service of Ukraine exposed in Kyiv an underground shop for the production and sale of forged IDs, seals, and stamps.
