Law enforcers expose group helping draft dodgers flee Ukraine

That’s according to the SBU press office, Ukrinform reports.

The route ran from the territory of Odesa region to the self-proclaimed Transnistria, and then to Moldova.

The cost of one "escape ticket" stood at up to $5,000, depending on the urgency of departure, the SBU reported.

Criminals drove their "clients" to the border with unrecognized Transnistria, and then led them along forest paths outside the established crossing checkpoints.

As a result of a joint special operation, law enforcers detained two gang members in Moldova as they were accompanying a group of dodge evaders. Two more perpetrators were exposed in Odesa as they were preparing a new group of potential conscripts for the illegal border crossing.

According to the investigation, the criminal group was set up by two residents of the unrecognized Transnistria, who hold Ukrainian and Moldovan passports and are also in focus of Russia’s security services.

They engaged accomplices from Moldova and Ukraine to create the human trafficking scheme.

The Security Service of Ukraine reported that in order to find "clients", those involved created several "specialized" Telegram channels, where they offered their assistance in escaping from mobilization in our country for money.

In order to conspire to make illegal profits, gang members required evaders to "pay for services" through their own crypto wallets.

Based on the evidence collected during the joint investigation, human trafficking charges will be pressed against all members of the criminal group. Two masterminds of the scheme are believed to be hiding from law enforcement in the so-called Transnistria and probed in absentia.

As reported, in 2023, border guards exposed nearly 11,000 men who attempted to cross the border illegally.