Three border guards are under criminal investigation for facilitating the illegal entry, stay and transit of the Republic of Moldova by citizens of Ukraine. The total amounts paid by the applicants ranged from $3,000 to $5,000. According to law enforcement officers, part of this money went to the policemen. The Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organised Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), announces that the investigation of the group began in January 2022, and subsequently, another criminal case was connected to that case, which was started at the end of August.

The three border guards are two men and one woman, aged between 30 and 38. They are employees and managers in the Border Police Sectors “Basarabeasca,” “Săiți” in Causeni and “Tudora.” Following the hearing of the three, two suspects agreed to cooperate with the investigating authority, while the third was detained and is to be charged by PCCOCS prosecutors.

“According to the data in the case file, which was gathered including as a result of the nine searches, for the services provided illegally, the applicants paid fees ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 US dollars. Part of this money, up to $1,000, went to the border guards investigated in the case.

Their role was to enter the data of persons from Ukraine who entered the country illegally into the Border Police’s information system, as having crossed the state border legally. This ensured the applicants the possibility of legal transit of Moldova to the European Union,” PCCOCS announced.

As for the actual crossing of the state border by the applicants, this task fell to other members of the criminal group, say PCCOCS prosecutors.

“They were smuggling people into the country through the southern region, outside the state border crossing points, as well as through the Transnistrian region. Some of these members of the criminal group have been identified, and some of them are reported wanted,” law enforcement officials announce.

Investigations are continuing in order to establish all aspects of the crime committed, including financial-parallel investigations, during which the figures in the case are presumed innocent, according to the law.