BEB and the tax authorities conducted searches at factories that produce illegal cigarettes

The operation was organized in maximum secrecy, so leakage of information to the defendants was avoided.

The day before yesterday, almost simultaneously with the arrival of Antony Blinken in Kyiv, the BEB and the tax authorities began simultaneous searches at all five factories in the country producing illegal cigarettes.

Kozlovsky's Lvov factory, the factory in Goshche Gelzin, the factory in Ternopil, Tobacco House in Kyiv Karfika, and in Odessa we visited the production, the control of which is attributed to Vadim Alperin.

The operation was organized in maximum secrecy, so leakage of information to the defendants was avoided.

The maximum task is to stop all illegal production in Ukraine.

But we'll see if it works.

UPD Received a request from BEB detectives, who have been conducting a complex operation against manufacturers of illegal cigarettes for the second day, to release information about the pressure and influence on investigative actions.

Detectives complain that acting Head of BEB detectives Alexander Tkachuk is actively and openly blocking effective investigative actions at the Lviv tobacco factory.

In particular, Tkachuk is trying to hush up and hide 7 cigarette production lines found in villages around the BLTF.

They are now trying to disassemble the found equipment in such a way that it would not be possible to conduct an examination and prove that it is related to the products that the factory distributes.

BEB, the day before, made all the necessary test purchases of both Duty Free cigarettes and other factory products, but Tkachuk is trying to exclude evidence of a connection between these lines and the Lviv Tobacco Factory.

Detectives say Tkachuk is openly playing in the interests of the factory owners.

I am addressing the acting BEB director Sergei Perkhun with a request to take control of this situation and eliminate pressure on detectives by Tkachuk.