Special operation of the National Police: a criminal organization of car hijackers who “worked” under the guise of “criminal authorities” was detained
Members of the gang were carefully prepared for crimes, so they had the most advanced expensive equipment for stealing foreign cars and clearly performed pre-allocated functions. They either resold the stolen cars as doubles, or offered to return them to the owners for a reward. The organizer, the performer and two of their “patrons” were detained.
Operatives of the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police have carefully analyzed the facts of illegal possession of vehicles in different regions over the past few months — and concluded that some of them may be committed by a single criminal group. In view of this, enlisting the support of colleagues from regional units, investigators of the Main Investigation Department and operational services of the National Police, the process of documenting the illegal activities of the defendants began.
Police have established that a criminal group with interregional ties may be involved in the commission of a series of car hijackings in several regions. In particular, the group consisted of residents of Kharkiv and Cherkasy region, and their criminal activities were covered up by two so-called “criminal authorities” who lived in the Cherkasy region.
As a result of a carefully planned police special operation involving KORD fighters and special agents of several regions today, April 24, the organizer and executor of auto theft, who were wanted for carjacking and hooliganism respectively, as well as two of their “patrons” who have influence in the criminal environment and detained after another attempt to seize Mersedes-Benz in Kharkiv.
A total of six members of the criminal organization have been identified, they are suspected of committing eight carjackings, which, after changing the identification numbers of the units, they either sold as doubles or returned to the owners for a reward. Law enforcement officers continue to work on the establishment of accomplices of the defendants.
In addition, in the course of operational-search measures and investigative actions, it was also found that the members of the group were aggressively disposed towards the operatives, who, in accordance with their official duties, documented their criminal activities. With the assistance of internal security operatives of the National Police, it was established that the arrested persons, in order to intimidate the police, set fire to the car used by the head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Cherkasy region police in December 2020. And in April 2021, one of the members of the group damaged an official car of the operatives of the Cherkasy region.
As part of the special operation, more than 50 sanctioned and urgent searches were carried out in the territory of Kyiv, Poltava, Kharkiv and Cherkasy regions. As a result, six elite cars were found in Kharkiv, in garages that were used by the detainees as places of detention and conversion of vehicles, which were stolen earlier. Also, money and bank cards, weapons and ammunition, special equipment for registering car keys (key programmers) and opening and starting cars, walkie-talkies and mobile phones, certificates of registration of vehicles, state license plates, sets of car keys, certificates of employees of prosecutor's offices were also seized from the defendants and the court, the clothes in which they committed the crimes, etc.
Detained persons were taken to the Main Investigation Department of the National Police and detained in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine to carry out priority investigative actions. Soon the court will choose preventive measures for them. The actions of intruders are qualified according to several articles of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: Part 1 of Art. 255 (Creation of a criminal organization), part 3 of Art. 289 (Illegal possession of a vehicle), part 4 of art. 28 part 2 of art. 194 (Intentional destruction or damage to property). For a series of crimes, they face up to 12 years in prison.
Procedural guidance in criminal proceedings is carried out by the Office of the Prosecutor General.
