In Zakarpattia, the scheme of a deputy of the Tyachiv District Council, who headed a group that illegally mined and sold sand for six months under the guise of road repairs, was exposed. The environmental damage amounted to UAH 9 million.
This was reported by the press service of the Prosecutor's Office of Zakarpattia region.
According to the prosecutor's office, the deputy, together with three local residents, illegally extracted almost 5.7 thousand cubic meters of sand and gravel from a river near the village of Bedevlya, Zakarpattia region.
According to the investigation, the criminals sold the extracted minerals to local residents for cash and supplied them to local governments for street repairs. Law enforcers added that the defendants failed to compensate UAH 9 million in damages.
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Law enforcers seized the suspects' property worth over UAH 15.8 million, and recently detained the fourth member of the scheme, who had been hiding from the investigation for six months and was wanted. The members of the organized group face 5 to 8 years in prison for illegal mining.
The prosecutor's office did not disclose the name of the accused, but according to journalists of the Zahid.Net media outlet, it is a deputy of the Tyachiv District Council Vitaliy Dyordyay.
As a reminder, the head of a sector of one of the units of the State Service of Geology and Mineral Resources of Ukraine is suspected in Rivne region of illegal amber mining worth UAH 354 million.
According to the investigation, the official was involved in the activities of a criminal organization that carried out illegal amber mining in Rivne region during 2022-2024.
