Operation “Carthage”: Law enforcement officers gave suspects access to street cameras. This way, the suspects monitored people and prepared attacks

Members of the criminal organization, which was exposed by NABU and SAPO during Operation “Carthage”, gained access to the cameras of the “Kyiv Safe City” system. With this, the attackers collected information about the people they planned to monitor, including receiving photos of their cars.

This is reported by NABU and SAPO in their investigation.

NABU notes that law enforcement officers who cooperated with the group helped it obtain information from government databases and avoid detection. The organizationʼs members also engaged in abductions, torture, and extortion of millions of dollars.

In particular, according to the investigation, the group members gained access to the system through the account of an SBU employee.

In particular, in this way they collected information about a man who was attacked near a gym in the center of Kyiv in July 2026.

Before the attack, three men in tactical clothing had been following the victim for several weeks. Two of the attackers grabbed him, and the third hit him with a metal pipe. After the attack, the perpetrators told the customers that the victim could not walk or talk normally.

Then, according to the investigation, a police officer nicknamed "Consultant", who appears in the case, assured the group members that there was no plan to intercept the attackers, and helped them leave the region.

A new part of Operation “Carthage”

As part of Operation Carthage, on November 4, NABU and SAPO exposed a new criminal organization that was engaged in fraudulent call centers, drug distribution, kidnapping and beating people, as well as other crimes.

According to NABU and SAPO, the organizationʼs members coordinated the work of at least 52 call centers, where approximately 2 700 people worked. To ensure that the offices could operate smoothly, their owners paid law enforcement officers $7 000 per month from each call center.

In parallel with the announcement of a new investigation by NABU and SAPO, SBU reported searches of its employees. At the same time, NABU stated that a high-ranking SBU official threatened the Bureau detectives with a weapon during the investigative actions.

His name was not specified, but Babelʼs sources claimed that it was the first deputy head of the SBU Department for the Protection of National Statehood, Major General Serhiy Duka.

Subsequently, law enforcement sources told Babel that NABU officers detained the first deputy head of the SBU Department for the Protection of National Statehood Serhiy Duka.

Also among the detainees are the following: Volodymyr Tsenov, First Deputy Head of the Strategic Investigations Department of the National Police, who is currently acting as its head; Oleksandr Demyanchuk, Deputy Head of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Main Police Department in the Kyiv region; Oleksandr Rybalko.

The case materials suggest that the latter may be involved in the activities of the Russian drug cartel "Khimprom", which is featured in the case.

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