Detectives of the Territorial Department ESBU in Kyiv exposed a scheme of illegal production and sale of alcoholic beverages using counterfeit excise tax stamps in particularly large amounts.

The investigation identified the organizer of the production who together with his accomplices carried out illegal activities on the territory of a garage cooperative in Kyiv. The offenders sold the products both with counterfeit excise stamps and without excise stamps at all via the Internet and supplied them to the capital's markets.

Employees of the ESBU conducted searches as a result of which more than 7,000 liters of counterfeit alcohol, bottled in plastic bottles, bag-in-box containers and containers pasted with excise tax stamps with probable signs of counterfeiting were removed from circulation. The approximate cost of alcoholic products is more than UAH 2 million.

The investigation is ongoing and the full range of persons involved in the criminal scheme is being identified.

The pre-trial investigation in the criminal proceeding on the grounds of criminal offenses stipulated by Part 2 Art. 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (illegal manufacture, storage, sale or transportation with the intent to sell excisable goods) and Part 3 Art. 199 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (manufacture, storage, purchase, importation into Ukraine for the purpose of using excise tax stamps for the sale of goods) is being conducted by detectives of the Territorial Department ESBU in Kyiv under the procedural supervision of prosecutors of the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office.