A full cycle of underground business: a scheme for growing and selling counterfeit tobacco was exposed in the Vinnytsia region

 A group of individuals organized the illegal cultivation, processing, and sale of tobacco products. The dealers sold the finished goods on the local market. The illegal activity was shut down by detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Vinnytsia region.

The perpetrators set up an underground workshop on private property. They established a full cycle—from growing tobacco to drying and processing it. Additionally, raw materials were purchased from suppliers in other regions.

Detectives conducted 5 searches at the locations of manufacture and storage of counterfeit goods, as well as at the residences of the suspects. More than 2.5 tons of tobacco raw materials with an estimated value of over 3 million UAH, almost 40 thousand filter cigarette tubes, a machine for shredding leaf tobacco, and 63 devices (machines) for making cigarettes were seized, as well as cash in national and foreign currencies, mobile phones, and rough documentation confirming the illegal activity.

The total value of the seized goods is over 4.3 million UAH.

Investigative actions were carried out as part of a pretrial investigation under part 1 of article 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal manufacture, storage, sale, or transportation for sale of excisable goods).

Operational support is carried out by employees of the Department of Strategic Investigations in the Vinnytsia region. The Vinnytsia Regional Prosecutor's Office provides procedural guidance.

According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in accordance with the law and established by a court verdict of guilty.