Law enforcement officers handed out summonses to four suspects who, without the proper permits, used dredgers to extract sand from the Dnipro River near the city of Svitlovodsk in the Kirovohrad region.
This was reported by the State Environmental Inspection of Ukraine (SEI) with reference to materials from its Central District division.
Environmental inspectors calculated the damage from the illegal extraction of this mineral resource at UAH 53 million.
They discovered this offense during an inspection on October 30, 2024. The materials compiled as a result of the inspection were forwarded to the police by specialists. Currently, criminal proceedings have been opened on this fact.
The organizer and his accomplices were notified of suspicion under Parts 3 and 4 of Article 240 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, “Violation of the rules for the protection or use of subsoil, illegal extraction of minerals.” They now face imprisonment for a term of 3 to 8 years.
Recently, EcoPolitic reported that in the Odesa region, environmental inspectors, together with prosecutors and the Security Service of Ukraine, exposed a group of violators who were illegally extracting sand from the Danube under the guise of dredging. They caused damage amounting to UAH 170 million.
We also reported on a case where a farmer nearly caused an environmental disaster in the Kyiv region. He organized a large-scale quarry where he and his accomplices also illegally extracted sand.
In one of its recent digests, EcoPolitic reported that a court in the Lviv region ordered a company to pay over UAH 16 million in damages caused by the illegal extraction of 30,000 m³ of sand on forestry land.
