The court returned an illegal cigarette production line seized by the State Bureau of Investigations to a sanctioned smuggler.

The Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv has lifted the previously imposed seizure of a cigarette production line that was confiscated by detectives from the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) in a case concerning the illegal production of cigarettes. This pertains to the equipment of a company affiliated with a well-known sanctioned smuggler from Odesa.

The BEB's press service reported this information.

Previously, within the framework of a criminal investigation, detectives established that throughout 2022, a company licensed for the official production of tobacco products was illegally manufacturing and selling cigarettes with counterfeit excise tax stamps. Several controlled companies were also involved in this scheme.

Law enforcement officials stated that during authorized searches, detectives seized the cigarette production line. Additionally, over 1.2 million packs of cigarettes with counterfeit excise tax stamps were confiscated.

The examination appointed during the investigation confirmed that the counterfeit cigarettes were produced on the same line that also manufactured the official products, as noted in the report.

According to the BEB, at the beginning of February 2023, the investigating judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court of Kyiv granted the prosecutor's request and imposed a seizure on the mass production line of tobacco products, transferring it to the Asset Recovery and Management Agency (ARMA) for management in accordance with the law.

The owners of the equipment attempted multiple times to lift the seizure and reclaim the line. However, even the decision of the Kyiv Court of Appeal left their appeal unresolved.

Law enforcement claims that the line has been transferred to the Agency for Asset Recovery and Management, and according to the decision of the Commission on the Competitive Selection of Legal Entities, ARMA has selected a winner to implement this line.

However, on February 7 of this year, the judge of the Shevchenkivskyi District Court in the capital, without substantial grounds or any new circumstances in the case, decided to lift this seizure and ordered the return of the property to the individual from whom it was confiscated, as reported by the agency's press service.

Background. Earlier, Mind reported that the Bureau of Economic Security (BEB) transferred computer equipment and communication means worth 112 million UAH to the units of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.