Four border guards in Chop arrested with bail option on suspicion of illegal cutting of forest

Four border guards of the Chop border detachment of the State Border Service of Ukraine have been arrested on suspicion of illegal cutting of forest under the military service negligence article, Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) has reported.

The public and media relations department of the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Tuesday that the main military prosecutor's office jointly with the economic crime fighting department of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine raided premises of the State Border Service of Ukraine and the Service Management Center of the Chop border detachment of the Western Regional Department of the State Border Service on August 16.

"Four officers of the Chop border detachment have been arrested with a bail option under Part 3 of Article 425 (neglect of duty in military service)," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

Neglect of duty in military service shall be punishable by imprisonment for a term of five to seven years.

Prosecutor General's Office acted under a court ruling as part of an investigation into a criminal case launched by the military prosecutors' office of Uzhgorod military post over facts of involvement of officers of the State Border Service in illegal cutting of 7,663 trees of fine wood in the border zone of Ukraine and selling them abroad. This caused a damage of approximately UAH 19 million to the state.