Photo: National Police of Ukraine.
In Odesa, law enforcement officers successfully detained a group of criminals who were extorting $20,000 from a 19-year-old man for a fictitious debt. Two men, aged 28, were suspected of extortion and are currently in custody. This was reported by the Judicial and Legal Newspaper.
Using psychological pressure, the criminals convinced the young man that he allegedly owed money to their acquaintance. Threatening him with physical violence, showing him a gun and a knife, they forced him to hand over $100 during a meeting in a restaurant.
As the victim had no debt obligations and did not know the offenders, he decided to turn to law enforcement. The police and the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted a joint special operation that resulted in the detention of the criminals when they were trying to obtain another $19,000 from the victim’s home.
During the searches of the offenders and their rented apartment, items confirming their guilt were seized: a pistol similar to a starter’s pistol, a knife, mobile phones and cash received from the victim. The head of the investigation, Oleh Zoshchuk, said that the offenders face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property for extortion with threats under martial law.
