Prosecutors of the Office of the Attorney General reported suspicions against nine participants of a criminal organization involved in mass forgery and sale of official documents, including those with holographic security elements.

According to the investigation, a 49-year-old resident of Dnipro, along with his brother and son, established a "business," involving trusted individuals from several regions of Ukraine. The suspects developed a clear plan of action with a distribution of roles.

Some participants were responsible for the necessary equipment and unlicensed software, while others sought genuine forms of official documents, made the required changes, false information, and holographic security elements. They placed advertisements in one of the messengers to find customers for their products and contacted clients. They transmitted the forged documents exclusively by postal service while maintaining secrecy—indicating fictitious surnames and mobile phone numbers on the shipping receipts.

Law enforcement conducted 40 authorized searches across 8 regions and the city of Kyiv. As a result of these actions, they seized forged documents, including those from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the National Police of Ukraine, office equipment, bank cards, rough notes and invoices, weapons, ammunition, and 4 vehicles.

The suspects are charged with creating, leading, and participating in a criminal organization, manufacturing and selling holographic security elements, as well as forgery, sale, and use of forged documents (Part 1, 2 of Article 255, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 199, Part 4 of Article 28, Part 3 of Article 358 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

The organizer and three other participants of the criminal organization have been placed in custody, while others are held in custody with the option of posting bail.

Currently, investigative actions are ongoing to hold other figures of the criminal organization accountable.

The pre-trial investigation, under the procedural guidance of prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney General, is being conducted by investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine with operational support from the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Police of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine.

Note: According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of the court.