Ukraine's National Police announced details of the operation, according to Ukrinform.
"As a result of a large-scale special operation, officers of the Drug Crime Department of the Chernivtsi Regional Police, together with the National Police's Drug Crime Department, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), investigators from the Kyiv Region Police, and law enforcement agencies of the Republic of Bulgaria, dismantled a transnational drug trafficking network," the National Police said.
Law enforcement officers shut down a clandestine drug laboratory and detained its organizer, a chemist, and six accomplices in Ukraine's Chernivtsi region. Authorities seized psychotropic substances and precursors worth more than UAH 40 million from the illegal operation.
According to the National Police, the first stage of the operation took place in Bulgaria, where officers dismantled a drug laboratory producing psychotropic substances for distribution across Europe.
During the operation in the city of Burgas, authorities detained the organizer of the criminal network, a 39-year-old native of Chernivtsi, and a 31-year-old chemist from the Ivano-Frankivsk region who was directly involved in manufacturing the drugs.
"The suspects established a complete illegal supply chain for psychotropic substances and precursors: they produced them in a clandestine laboratory, sold them, and smuggled them to accomplices in the Chernivtsi region," the National Police said.
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During authorized searches of the laboratory, officers seized 50 kilograms of psychotropic substances, including alpha-PVP, mephedrone, and amphetamine, as well as 150 liters of precursors, 200 liters of chemical compounds, laboratory equipment, and other evidence. The estimated value of the seized items exceeds UAH 40 million.
Investigators found that the group smuggled psychotropic substances and precursors across the state border using international passenger buses, concealing the illegal cargo among passengers' personal belongings and luggage.
According to the investigation, other members of the criminal network in the Chernivtsi region received the smuggled substances.
"The second stage of the operation took place in the Chernivtsi region. Law enforcement officers exposed six more members of the network responsible for receiving the smuggled psychotropic substances and precursors, packaging them, transporting them, shipping them through postal services, setting up wholesale cache sites, and distributing them across Ukraine," the National Police said.
With support from KORD special forces, officers of the Special Purpose Police Regiment of the Chernivtsi Regional Police, and the SBU, investigators carried out 32 authorized searches. They seized amphetamine, cannabis, packaging materials, cash in Ukrainian and foreign currencies, bank cards, mobile phones, SIM cards, laptops, flash drives, and handwritten records.
The seized drugs and psychotropic substances have been sent to the Kyiv Scientific Research Forensic Center of the Interior Ministry for examination.
During this stage of the operation, investigators detained six additional suspects – four men and two women.
They have been notified of suspicion on charges related to the illegal manufacture, possession, transportation, shipment, and distribution of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances, aiding the smuggling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors, and the illegal handling of precursors.
In addition, three vehicles belonging to the suspects, with an estimated total value of nearly UAH 1.8 million, have been placed under arrest.
The pre-trial investigation is being conducted by investigators of the Kyiv Region Police under the procedural supervision of the Kyiv Regional Prosecutor's Office.
Law enforcement authorities are working to identify other individuals who may have been involved in the international psychotropic drug trafficking network.