In Khmelnytskyy and Ternopil Regions, the police exposed so-called "rehabilitation centres" where people with alcohol, drug and gambling addictions were held against their will.
According to the National Police, eight accomplices, who had already been convicted of similar crimes, opened the "institutions".
"During the pre-trial investigation, police officers found that two of the eight suspects are under investigation. At the end of 2023, they were notified of being suspected of a similar crime - illegal imprisonment or kidnapping," the National Police said in a statement.
Then the court imposed a measure of restraint on them - nightly house arrest. However, this did not stop the defendants, and they set up two new rehabilitation centres and found six more accomplices.
They promoted the activities of their centres through websites and through their friends. The advert stated that the centres employed highly qualified specialists and used the most modern methods.
Treatment cost between 10 and 20 thousand hryvnias per month. Patients had to take themselves to the centres, and relatives were not allowed to enter the premises.
According to law enforcement officers, in fact, there was not a single doctor among the staff of the centres, and all the "rehabilitators" were previously convicted alcohol and drug addicts.
People were held in strict isolation: they were forbidden to use phones and communicate with relatives, and could only go outside under the supervision of staff. The only medications used were sedatives.
"We conducted seven simultaneous searches in two rehabilitation centres and seized vehicles, mobile phones, bank cards, computer equipment, medicines, seals, money, documentation and draft records confirming the illegal activities of the defendants," commented Oleksandr Bunyak, Head of the Migration Police Department of the Main Department of the National Police in Ternopil Region.
Police investigators served the offenders suspicion notices under Part 3 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 146 - illegal deprivation of liberty committed by an organised criminal group of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The court imposed on the six defendants custody with the right to be released on bail, night and round-the-clock house arrest. The issue of choosing a preventive measure for two more members of the group is being decided.
The defendants face up to 10 years in prison.