National Police stated link between U420 and drug syndicate ChemProm: more than 280 searches and tens of millions

The National Police of Ukraine has claimed that behind the U420 chain of stores, previously investigated by Bihus.Info, stands the drug syndicate “ChemProm.” This was announced at a police briefing.

According to law enforcement, “ChemProm” is a criminal group led by a Russian citizen known by the alias “Mexican.” Since 2019, he has been overseas, but continued to remotely coordinate the network’s activities and oversee financial flows.

The police note that the group operated in several directions: illegal drug trafficking, violent crimes, including assaults, threats and acid attacks, fraudulent call centers targeting EU citizens, and the sale of synthetic cannabinoids through the U420 network.

The National Police of Ukraine confirmed that the U420 stores sold so-called “spice” – synthetic cannabinoids. Also at the briefing they mentioned the journalistic investigation by Bihus.Info, which previously uncovered the presence of psychotropic substances in products of the U420 network.

According to the investigation, key production hubs were Kyiv and Dnipro. Over several months the network expanded from 13 to 105 stores across the country.

As a reminder, 14 in April law enforcement conducted a series of searches in U420 stores nationwide. As a result, goods worth more than 75 million hryvnias were seized, more than 300 mobile phones, about a thousand bank cards and seals. Also 416 accounts were arrested, which, according to the investigation, were used in the scheme.

As a result, the police announced suspicions against four network participants – the managers of U420 and Green State stores in Lviv, as well as two sellers. All are suspected under Article 307 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – illegal production, manufacture and sale of narcotic substances.