Special operation of the CBA. 6 persons detained in connection with large-scale smuggling
On 13 September 2019, under a special operation, the officers of the Regional Office of the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau in Rzeszów detained 6 persons, including two citizens of Ukraine impersonating officers of the Ukrainian special services.
The special operation conducted by the CBA concerns smuggling of large quantity of amber to the territory of Poland.
The materials gathered in this case transferred to the National Prosecutor’s Office.
By court decision, 6 persons detained by the CBA in the course of the special operation, conducted on 13 September 2019, will remain in custody for 3 months.
The details of the charges presented to the detainees can be found in the prosecutor's statement:
Custody for amber smuggling
Lublin Terrain Division of the Department for Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office in Lublin has been conducting an investigation into an international organised criminal group, acting on the territory of Poland and Ukraine, smuggling large quantities of amber from Ukraine to Poland in the period from 2014 to 13 September 2019. The activity of the group has exposed the State Treasury to the impairment of public law liabilities of a great value in the amount of over PLN 23 million. In the course of the activities, the Central Anti-Corruption Bureau detained 6 persons, including 5 citizens of Ukraine and 1 of Poland, in the age from 36 to 47. The Prosecutor brought charges against the detainees and requested for provisional detention. The court took account of all the prosecutor's requests.
Amber smuggling from Ukraine
In the course of the proceedings, the prosecutor has determined that 5 Ukrainian citizens and one Polish citizen from the vicinity of Przemyśl, within the framework of an international organized criminal group, had been smuggling high-quality amber from Ukraine to Poland for about 5 years, without reporting the subject of taxation to the customs authorities. The amber in stake had been exploited in mines in Ukraine, and smuggled in goods imported legally into the Republic of Poland, among others, in car rims and panels. Then the amber was stored in agreed customs warehouses for further distribution. All the transactions were performed in dollars. As it was determined, the amber was smuggled in packs of about 50 kg, and transported once a week in a total amount of 200 kg.
Allegations have been presented to the detainees.
In the course of the proceedings (14 and 15 September of this year), the prosecutor of the Lublin Terrain Division of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office in Lublin, presented to six detainees with allegations of participation in an international organized criminal group qualified under art. 258 par. 1 of the Penal Code, a depletion of public law liabilities of large amounts in connection with the failure to notify the customs authorities of the subject and tax base of the amber imported from the Republic of Ukraine into the territory of Poland. In addition the Polish citizen has been alleged with having committed a crime of invoking influences in local government institutions of the Office of the Mayor of the City and the Vogt of the Jarosław Commune.
The offenses are punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
Preventive measures
Due to the need to secure the proper course of the proceedings, the prosecutor of the Lublin Terrain Division of the Department of Organized Crime and Corruption of the National Prosecutor's Office in Lublin submitted requests to the court for a preventive measure in the form of temporary arrest. The Lubin-West District Court in Lublin, on 15 September 2019, applied temporary arrest against 5 suspects. The sixth suspect (16 September 2019) by the decision of the court will also be remanded in custody for three months.
The proceedings are multi-threaded and involve many persons. At present, intense procedural actions are underway to determine all participants of the dealings described above.
https://pk.gov.pl/aktualnosci/aktualnosci-prokuratury-krajowej/areszt-za-przemyt-bursztynu/