The Security Service of Ukraine neutralized an organized criminal group that has terrorized and tried to keep the residents of Chernihiv region in fear.
It is to be noted that, “Criminals has created an artificial conflict situations with the residents of the border region, and then demanded money from them for dispute settlement. Bandits had their own network of informants, through which they received information about potential victims.”
The details further added that, “The group’s activities created real prerequisites for destabilizing the internal political situation in the northern region bordering the Russian Federation.”
SBU employees detained five members of the gang for the attempted kidnapping of a local resident, whom the racketeers “wrote a debt” of almost 100,000 hryvnias.
It was established that in case of refusal to pay the gang, its members kidnapped people, and then took them to pre-prepared places and subjected them to brutal torture.
As per the information shared by the SBU, “Criminals tortured people and promised to stop the abuse only in the case of immediate transfer of funds to the bank accounts of those involved.”
In addition, criminals destroyed the property of citizens by arson in the territory of other regions.
According to only a few facts documented by law enforcement officers, the perpetrators “extorted” more than 200,000 hryvnias from citizens.
According to the investigation, the defendants are residents of the regional center who were previously held criminally liable for committing serious crimes.
Currently, the detainees have been notified of the suspicion under Part 4 of Art. 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (extortion under martial law). All of them are in custody.
The involvement of gang members in committing other crimes is being checked. Perpetrators face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
Complex measures were carried out by SBU employees in the Chernihiv region together with the National Police under the procedural guidance of the Chernihiv regional prosecutor’s office.