A court in Chernihiv has sentenced two men who tried to steal more than 5.5 million hryvnias from a bank by setting off an explosion inside its premises, the Chernihiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reported.
According to the investigation, residents of Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv regions began preparing the crime in February 2024. They regularly came to the city, collecting information about the location of the bank vault, security systems, and possible ways of penetration.
The attackers dug an underground tunnel from the kindergarten to the basement of a neighboring house, from where they prepared a hole in the bank wall. On the morning of May 6, the men got inside and began breaking into individual bank safes.
To cover up the crime, they poured fuel and lubricants into the building through the ventilation duct, causing a fire and a powerful explosion. As a result of the destruction, the bank suffered losses of 5.5 million hryvnias.
In addition, during searches in the garage of one of the accused, law enforcement officers seized drugs and psychotropic substances - cannabis and so-called "mushrooms."
The court found both men guilty of attempted grand theft, intentional destruction of property, and illegal possession of narcotics and psychotropic substances.
Sentence: one saboteur was sentenced to 8 years in prison with confiscation of property, the other to 7 years and 6 months, also with confiscation.
The court's decision has not yet entered into legal force and may be appealed.
