Kherson police exposed a group of city residents suspected of selling cannabis and psychotropic substances, and seized drugs valued at about 100,000 hryvnias.[1]

Investigators established that a 41-year-old Kherson resident and his 44-year-old female acquaintance bought prohibited substances from a 50-year-old city resident, placing drug orders through a messenger app.[1] The suspects repackaged the substances at their homes, sold part of them directly to buyers and posted the rest to other regions of Ukraine, with payments made in cash and card transfers.[1]

During the pretrial investigation police documented four cannabis sales, and preliminary calculations suggested the group’s monthly income from illegal psychotropic sales could exceed 300,000 hryvnias.[1]

At authorized searches police seized about 250 grams of cannabis, 3 grams of the psychotropic A-PVP and 50 buprenorphine pills, plus packaging bags, electronic scales, grinding devices, bank cards, mobile phones and a tablet.[1] Police also seized over 200,000 hryvnias and 1,500 US dollars in national and foreign currencies, and estimated the black-market value of the seized drugs and psychotropics at about 100,000 hryvnias.[1]

The two men were detained and notified of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 307 of Ukraine’s Criminal Code for illegal acquisition, storage with intent to sell and sale of narcotic and psychotropic substances, facing up to ten years in prison with confiscation of property.[1]