Police have issued suspicion notices to six individuals in the case concerning the activities of the U420 network.
This was reported by Dmytro Torhalo, head of the National Police Department for Combating Drug Crime, RBC-Ukraine reports.
According to him, the National Police previously approached the Ministry of Health with an initiative to add the synthetic cannabinoid ADB-4en-PINACA to the list of banned substances back in September 2025. The documentation of the shops’ activities continued from December of that year, and in February this year the government decided to ban the substance. The organisers sold the products as souvenirs, as it had not yet been added to the list of prohibited substances.
Torhalo said police carried out 281 searches, shut down production, packaging and distribution sites, and also closed all U420 shops. Law enforcement officers seized more than 54,000 litres of products containing cannabidiol and more than three tonnes of joint mix, and also froze 416 accounts and nearly four million USDT.
“Six individuals have been notified of suspicion. More than 2,800 expert examinations have been commissioned to establish the composition of the seized products. Their results will be taken into account during the further legal assessment of the actions of those involved. That is why work on the case continues even after the retail outlets have been closed,” the head of the Department for Combating Drug Crime concluded.
- Earlier, Slidstvo.Info wrote that the leader of the transnational criminal group “KhimProm” Yehor Levchenko, nicknamed “the Mexican”, personally threatened Dmytro Torhalo and offered $2 million to have him removed from his post.
- Levchenko is on an international wanted list and is also under personal sanctions imposed by the National Security and Defence Council. The suspect is currently hiding from investigators in Mexico and has become the focus of a new investigation by Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies.
- On 4 November, NABU and SAPO published details of the exposure, as part of Operation “Carthage”, of a new criminal organisation. It included law enforcement officers and members of the criminal underworld, and specialised in keeping illegal call centres running and distributing drugs, as well as in economic crimes.
- Oleksandr Abakumov, head of NABU’s detective department, said the criminal organisation had at least 12 members. Among them were: “Kryminal” — the likely founder and leader, a person with a criminal past and present. He has three convictions; “the Mexican” — the founder of “KhimProm”. He is wanted; Kryminal’s subordinates “Boxer” and Pasha, who carried out the dirty work; “Price” — one of the heads of the National Police Department for Strategic Investigations; “Consultant” — another police officer who, according to NABU, coordinated certain areas of illegal activity; “Akim” — a senior SBU official who provided protection from attention from colleagues.