The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has exposed and detained another five organisers of schemes for men who wanted to avoid conscription into the Armed Forces.
According to the SBU, the criminals "guaranteed" their clients that they would "write them off" the military register or smuggle them abroad outside checkpoints in exchange for money.
They charged up to $6,000 per person, depending on the urgency of the "order".
In Cherkasy, a local lawyer and his accomplice were detained red-handed for selling fictitious military medical certificates to active military personnel.
Two residents of the capital who smuggled evaders to the European Union through the territory of the unrecognised Dniester region were exposed in Kyiv. The suspects provided their clients with fictitious documents from the Military Qualification Commission about their unfitness for service, as well as transport to the EU.
In Zaporizhzhya, two fraudsters who cheated conscripts out of money were detained. In exchange for a reward, the criminals promised potential recruits that they would be able to "get them off" mobilisation by referring to their "own connections" in the military commissariat. However, after receiving the money, they would disappear.
Investigations are ongoing into all the facts revealed. The offenders face various prison sentences.
Law enforcers have exposed schemes for draftees fleeing abroad:
· In Ternopil Region, an armed group was engaged in the smuggling of evaders abroad for $8,000.
· In Odesa, the director of a recruitment agency smuggled evaders to the EU for $8,000.
· In Chernivtsi Region, a deputy who smuggled evaders abroad charged 5,300 euros for his services.