Prosecutors of the Volyn Regional Prosecutor's Office have submitted an indictment to the court against 13 members of a criminal organization, including officials from the branch of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine," the State Emergency Service in the Volyn region, individual entrepreneurs, and transporters.

It has been established that a Volyn entrepreneur created a criminal organization, which involved foresters, an employee of the State Emergency Service, entrepreneurs, and transporters. They established a scheme for the illegal logging and sale of timber. To cover their activities, they used official waybills and tags registered in the electronic accounting system of the State Enterprise "Forests of Ukraine." Within one day, based on canceled documents, they made several trips with illegally harvested timber, which they sold for cash.

From May to October 2024, the members of the organization illegally cut down and sold over 1,100 trees, causing environmental damage amounting to over 6.4 million UAH.

The accused are charged with illegal logging, transportation, storage, and sale of timber, which caused severe consequences for the environment (Part 2 of Article 255, Part 5 of Article 27, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 4 of Article 246 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). Additionally, four foresters are charged with abuse of office (Part 3 of Article 365 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine), and three others with official forgery (Part 1 of Article 366 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Currently, nine of the accused have been placed under preventive measures in the form of bail, while four have been placed under house arrest.

The pre-trial investigation was conducted by investigators of the Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigations in Lviv with operational support from the Volyn Department of the National Police's Department of Internal Security and the Security Service of Ukraine in the Volyn region.

Note: According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and confirmed by a guilty verdict of the court.