In Ukraine, authorities uncovered a scheme to legitimize over 200 million UAH in income linked to an interregional drug cartel.

In Ukraine, law enforcement has uncovered a scheme for legalizing the income of an interregional drug cartel exceeding 200 million UAH. The monthly turnover amounted to 18 million UAH. More than a thousand so-called "drops" were involved in the money laundering network – individuals who, for a fee, provided access to their bank accounts for shadow operations. This was reported by the head of the State Tax Service of Ukraine, Ruslan Kravchenko.

The participants in the scheme established a network of fictitious individuals who offered their personal information for account openings and created personal accounts in mobile applications for compensation.

“Funds from the illegal sale of raw materials for manufacturing amphetamines were deposited into the accounts of these individuals. As a result, over two hundred million hryvnias were withdrawn from their accounts within a year to two deposit cryptocurrency wallets, which were later cashed out in Cyprus,” the official stated.

Based on the analysis by the Department for Preventing Financial Operations related to the legalization of proceeds obtained through criminal means, law enforcement identified the pathways and mechanisms for legalizing illegally obtained funds, as well as the participants and their roles in the scheme.

The police conducted an operation to dismantle the criminal organization. Some of the participants are being held accountable for the legalization (money laundering) of property obtained through criminal means (Part 3 of Article 209 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).