Law enforcement officers exposed a criminal group that was preparing mass arsons in Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states

Law enforcement officers exposed a criminal group that, on the order of a representative of Russia, was preparing a series of arson attacks in places of mass gathering of people, including in EU countries.

This is reported by the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office and the National Police.

According to the investigation, one of the suspects, a resident of Ivano-Frankivsk, contacted an unidentified representative of Russia in a mobile application. For money, he agreed to find people to organize arson.

For money, the candidates were supposed to set arson on civilian and critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine, Poland, and the Baltic states.

It is known about several commercial establishments destroyed by fire in Poland and the Baltic countries. The attackers also re\ceived an order to set fire to one of the humanitarian aid centers for Ukraine on the territory of Poland.

It was also established that the suspects produced and sold fake driverʼs licenses and other documents protected by holographic security elements. The price for the production of one certificate was about 8 000 hryvnias. The "documents" were sent to customers by mail.

Law enforcement officers simultaneously conducted about 40 searches on the territory of Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Poltava regions and Kyiv at the places of residence and in the cars of the suspects.

According to the results, weapons and ammunition for them, 9 cars, 77 200 dollars, 500 thousand hryvnias, bank cards, mobile phones, draft records were seized.

Fake car registration certificates, medical certificates, school graduation certificates and thousands of blank forms were also seized.

Three recruiters were detained, reported as suspicious, and preventive measures were taken. They are accused of:

• high treason (Part 2 of Article 111 of the Criminal Code);
• preparation for intentional destruction of someone elseʼs property through arson (Part 1 of Article 14, Part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code);
• manufacture, forwarding and sale of illegally manufactured holographic protective elements (Part 2 of Article 199 of the Criminal Code);
• forgery and sale of forged documents (Part 3 of Article 358 of the Criminal Code).

The maximum penalty under these articles is life imprisonment.