Unlicensed business: Based on ESBU materials, two Volyn residents will stand trial for growing tobacco on an industrial scale

 Tens of hectares of tobacco, equipped workshops, drying chambers, and an industrial line for processing raw materials. Detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Volyn region have completed a pretrial investigation into a farmer and his brother who set up illegal production of raw tobacco.

The director and sole owner of the farm, together with his brother, organized tobacco cultivation in the Volodymyr district.

 Initially, the seeds were sown in greenhouses, and later the seedlings were transplanted into open ground. Special workshops were equipped for cleaning, sorting, and pressing the leaves. Local residents were hired to harvest and process the crop, some of whom were not officially employed.

In total, detectives identified 13 plots of land sown with tobacco, with a total area of about 40 hectares.

At the time the operations began, the enterprise did not hold the appropriate license. Subsequently, to give the illegal activity a semblance of legality, the farm obtained permit documents for some of the land plots where tobacco was already actually being grown. However, according to the investigation, these licenses were obtained in violation of the established procedure.

At the initiative of the ESBU, within the framework of the pretrial investigation, the State Tax Service authorities conducted control and audit measures. Based on their results, 12 tobacco cultivation licenses were revoked, and financial penalties exceeding UAH 1.6 million were applied for violations of tax legislation requirements.

During authorized inspections, law enforcement officers seized 6 tons of raw tobacco with an estimated value of over UAH 3 million. The equipment that supported the technological process of raw material production was also seized, including drying chambers, an industrial tobacco feeding line, and other machinery.

The men were notified of suspicion regarding the illegal manufacture of excise goods committed by prior conspiracy by a group of persons (Part 2 of Article 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). In addition, the owner of the farm is charged with the illegal storage for the purpose of sale of illegally manufactured excise goods (Part 1 of Article 204 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The indictment has been forwarded to the court.

The pretrial investigation was conducted by detectives from the Territorial Department of the ESBU in the Volyn region in cooperation with the staff of the Main Directorate of the State Tax Service in the Volyn region.

Procedural guidance is provided by prosecutors of the Volyn Regional Prosecutor's Office. Employees of the SSU Directorate in the Volyn region, together with personnel from the 6th Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine and the Migration Police Department of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Volyn region, were involved in the operational measures.