Following the nationwide special operation "Gentlemen", nearly 30,000 plants of hemp and opium poppy have been detected and destroyed, and 74 suspects have been charged with the illegal cultivation of drug-containing plants, the National Police of Ukraine reported.
"Law enforcement officers carried out 435 searches of residences, utility buildings, land plots, and backyards in 23 regions of the country and the capital," the National Police said in a statement on their website on Wednesday.
According to the police, for conspiracy purposes, the offenders carefully disguised the illegal crops by planting them in accordance with the natural terrain, among agricultural crops, and in hard-to-reach areas, which significantly complicated their detection.
"Despite the measures taken by the dealers, based on the results of investigative and operational-search activities, police of regional units liquidated 12 grow box and hydroponic laboratories, detected and destroyed nearly 30,000 plants of hemp and opium poppy, and seized over 170 kg of the narcotic drug cannabis, equipment for cultivating and processing drug-containing plants, money, vehicles, and other physical evidence," the National Police said.
As noted, by removing the raw drug materials from illegal circulation, law enforcement officers prevented them from entering the black market.
"The sale of such a volume of forbidden substances could have brought drug dealers over UAH 60 million in illegal profit," the police specified.
Currently, police investigators have already charged 74 individuals under Parts 2 and 3 of Article 307 (illegal production, manufacture, purchase, storage, transportation, sending, or sale of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, or their analogues) and Part 2 of Article 310 (sowing or growing of opium poppy or hemp) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The suspects face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.
