In the Odesa region, a Mykolaiv resident was exposed for smuggling men liable for military service to Moldova for $6,000

In the Odesa region, border guards exposed a native of Mykolaiv, 38, who for money organized the transfer of conscription-age men to Moldova.

The discovery of the scheme was reported by the Southern Regional Department of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine.

According to the agency, the “package” included not only the route but also detailed instructions for illegal border crossing, and its price reached 6 thousand US dollars.

Payment was split into parts: 3,500 dollars were handed over near the border, and clients paid the remainder after a successful crossing.

The investigation found that the intermediary sought men of conscription age via social media with the assistance of a Telegram channel administrator — the organizer who connected clients with the driver-carrier.

The SBGSU also outlined the planned route for the illegal exit, including a start in the regional center.

“The route started from Odesa and ran to one of the settlements on the border. Thereafter the conscription-age man from Odesa was to walk on foot through the tree line and illegally reach Moldova”, – the report says.

Currently the driver has been formally charged and a preventive measure has been imposed; if convicted he faces up to 9 years imprisonment with confiscation of property.

Earlier we wrote:

• Attempt to smuggle a conscript out of the Odesa region disguised as a 71-year-old pensioner uncovered
• Desperate escapes for substantial sums: how men from various regions of Ukraine tried to cross the border
• Winter extreme: a Ukrainian tried to cross the border in an inflatable kayak
• Eight violators tried to get into Moldova following a teenager, – the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
• A border guard in the Odesa region killed a deserter who attacked him