Security Service of Ukraine officers have blocked the activities of an international amber smuggling ring, the agency's press service reported.
“During searches at the residences and production premises of the participants in the illegal activity, the following was revealed:
- almost 1300 kg of amber of various fractions;
- more than 170 kg of finished products;
- technological equipment for amber processing;
- computer equipment and rough accounting records with evidence of illegal activity.
Law enforcement began documenting the group's illegal activities last September. Since then, they have identified the smuggling channel and its organizers.
To illegally export processed products abroad, the dealers used "routes" through Boryspil and Lviv airports, as well as international mail services using forged shipping documents.
It was established that the illegal business was organized by a citizen of a South Caucasus country. He recruited, among other people, seven residents of the Rivne region, to buy illegally mined amber from local prospectors.
"The dealers used some of the purchased goods to create jewelry for foreign clients. They used the production facilities of a private enterprise in the region to process the stones," the report states.
During a multi-stage operation, several batches of "sun stone" worth more than UAH 11 million were seized from criminals.
Ранее Skelet.Org reported that The SBU seized a batch of amber weighing almost 180 kg.
In topic: The Amber War: How the Law on the Extraction of Precious Resin Works
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Skelet.Org
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