Law enforcement officers in Ternopil region have stopped the activities of an organized criminal group that established a drug trafficking scheme in the Chortkiv prison. Four men have been charged, two of whom have already been taken into custody.
According to the investigation, the organizer of the scheme was a 37-year-old Georgian citizen who is in Ukraine illegally. Together with him, the so-called criminal authority, who is currently being held in the Chortkiv pre-trial detention center, managed the process. They involved two convicted and two previously convicted persons in the criminal activity.
"The Georgian organizer established his own rules and coordinated the actions of both convicts and accomplices at large. The group controlled the supply of drugs, appointed guards, ran a so-called criminal cash register, and extorted money from prisoners," the Ternopil region police reported.
Throughout 2025, the drugs were sent by mail, hidden in food products: Mivina packages, sausages, and cans of stew. The shipments indicated fictitious senders. During the searches, investigators seized buprenorphine and methadone, mobile phones, bank cards, and draft notes.
Law enforcement officers found out that the perpetrators purchased psychotropic substances from drug addicts, who received them for free as part of a substitution maintenance therapy program.
Four men were charged under Part 2 of Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (sale of narcotic drugs). They face up to 10 years in prison with confiscation of property.
