A sea smuggling channel across the Black Sea was exposed in the Odesa region

As part of the scheme, a ship from unrecognized Abkhazia delivered a batch of counterfeit cigarettes and a drone to the area of ​​Zmiiniy Island, which was probably intended to carry out a terrorist attack.

According to the investigation, the organizer of the scheme was a 46-year-old Odessa businessman who is in the unrecognized republic of Abkhazia. He remotely coordinated the delivery of large batches of counterfeit cigarettes by sea.

The ship with the contraband cargo left the country on May 11 and for three days headed to a designated point near Zmiiniy Island outside the territorial waters of Ukraine.

Small craft were used to transfer the cargo and deliver people to the ship. According to the investigation, on the way back, the organizer also planned to illegally take his brother out of Ukraine, who wanted to avoid mobilization.

On May 21, the man was taken to the settlement of Vilkovo, from where he was supposed to get to the ship anchored near Zmiiniy.

Law enforcement officers stopped the operation during its implementation. During the searches, almost 1,400 boxes of counterfeit cigarettes were seized. In addition, a drone with TNT, disguised as tobacco products, was found among the cargo. Investigators are checking the version that the sea route was used to supply weapons and explosives.