Ukrainian and Bulgarian law enforcement agencies have dismantled an international drug trafficking network during a joint cross-border operation that resulted in the arrest of eight suspects, according to Ukraine’s National Police. The operation involved officers from the Anti-Drug Trafficking Department of the Chernivtsi Regional Police, the National Police of Ukraine, the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU), investigators from the Kyiv Regional Police, and Bulgarian authorities.
“As a result of a large-scale specialized operation… a transnational drug trafficking network was dismantled,” the Ukrainian National Police said in a statement.
The first phase of the operation took place in Bulgaria, where authorities uncovered and shut down an illegal laboratory producing psychotropic substances intended for distribution across Europe. During raids in Burgas, police arrested the alleged leader of the criminal group, a 39-year-old Ukrainian from the Chernivtsi region, along with a 31-year-old chemist from the Ivano-Frankivsk region who was responsible for manufacturing the drugs.
According to investigators, the group had established a fully illegal supply chain for psychotropic substances and chemical precursors. “The suspects created a completely illegal supply chain for psychotropic substances and precursors – they produced them in a secret laboratory, sold them and smuggled them to accomplices in Chernivtsi,” the National Police said.
During searches of the Bulgarian 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 materials, laboratory equipment, and other evidence. The total value of the confiscated drugs and materials is estimated at more than 40 million Ukrainian hryvnias, or roughly 775,000 euros.
The investigation found that the organization smuggled drugs and chemical precursors across the border using international passenger buses, concealing the illegal cargo among travelers’ luggage before it was delivered to accomplices in Ukraine.
The second phase of the operation was carried out in the Chernivtsi region, where authorities identified six additional members of the network. According to police, the suspects were responsible for receiving shipments, packaging the drugs, transporting them, distributing them through postal services, operating stash locations, and supplying psychotropic substances across Ukraine.
Law enforcement officers conducted 32 searches during the operation, recovering amphetamine, cannabis, packaging materials, cash in Ukrainian and foreign currencies, bank cards, mobile phones, SIM cards, laptops, flash drives, and handwritten records. The confiscated drugs and psychotropic substances have been sent to the Kyiv Research Forensic Center of the Interior Ministry for examination.
During the second stage of the operation, police detained six more suspects, including four men and two women, bringing the total number of arrests to eight.