Two men from Ukraine, an official of the Migration and Asylum Office and his accomplice, investigated for facilitating the illegal entry of Ukrainians into Moldova and forging their legal stay

Prosecutors from the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS), South office, together with Border Police officers, conducted searches in Cahul on Tuesday, December 13, in the office, car and home of a senior employee of the Migration and Asylum Bureau.

He was charged by PCCOCS prosecutors, South office, for organising illegal migration of Ukrainians, who entered the country illegally, in October 2022. According to the criminal case file, the clients paid EUR 2,000 each for the illegal entry into the country and EUR 350 each for the relevant part of the legalization of the package of documents.

“The Ukrainian citizens were arriving in Moldova through the involvement of a Ukrainian previously detained and placed in custody. He was crossing the border with the applicants to Moldova, outside the official border crossing points, through the Valea Perjei village, for money. As a result of the searches, the amounts of money received – €2,000 for each of the two clients, which were established by the investigating authority – were found on his person.

On the other side of the border, in Moldova, the clients were picked up by another suspect – a Moldovan citizen from Ceadâr-Lunga, who picked them up in the town where he lived and then transported them to Cahul. There, they were “advised” by another Ukrainian citizen, who was responsible for the completion of the necessary documents for legal exit from Moldova to Romania, who was subsequently detained and placed in custody.

As a final criminal step, they were transported to the – this time – “legal” exit from the country at the border crossing point in Cahul by the responsible employee of the Migration and Asylum Office in the South. The official also offered them tips for communicating with border guards and urged them not to disclose that they knew him,” PCCOCS said in a statement.

According to the PCCOCS, the four men are aged between 36 and 49 and are members of a “cross-border criminal group” that is still under investigation, during which time they are presumed innocent, according to the law.