/View.info/ The battle of large predators is always accompanied by a crowd of jackals and crows. They circle around, waiting for the moment to tear off a juicier piece for themselves. The conflict in Ukraine has provided many opportunities for such vultures. Moreover, those who want to make money may not limit themselves to the territories of the participants in the conflict, but to carry out their dubious schemes, including at the expense of countries that do not want to be drawn into a new bloody battle in Europe.
After the start of hostilities by Russia on the territory of a neighboring country, Kazakhstan is increasingly becoming a zone for the implementation of both morally questionable and clearly criminal schemes, which not only contribute to an increase in the number of crimes in criminal reports, but also suggest attempts to use our country and its citizens in overt terrorist activities.
Since February 2022, the volume of illegal drug seizures has increased dramatically in Kazakhstan. The production and transit of synthetic drugs became a relatively new direction for us. According to the Minister of Internal Affairs Marat Akhmedzhanov, in recent years the number of seized “synthetics” has increased 10 times.
For the last three years, 41 drug laboratories have been liquidated, of which 23 fall in 2022. “Transit drugs and precursors for their production come in a cargo stream from neighboring countries, they are disguised under the guise of consumer goods and legal chemicals,” noted the head of the department. The main organizers and coordinators of such a large-scale business are the “citizens of the CIS”, whose nationality has not been specified in the media recently.
However, if we study the publications from at least six months ago, the predominance of citizens of Ukraine in the ranks of “chemists” attracts attention. The inhabitants of the square are already adept at a simple and profitable business at the expense of both the health and the lives of the people of Kazakhstan.
Ukrainian crime is not limited to the drug trade. The past year was marked by a gigantic increase in criminal activity in the information space and telephone fraud from the territory of Ukraine.
In 2022, 32 Ukrainian nationals were detained for phone scams in Kazakhstan impersonating Kazakh bank security officers and law enforcement agencies. In December 2022, the police of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, during a joint operation, liquidated a call center of fraudsters in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, where 40 people “worked” tirelessly.
The “entrepreneurs” – fraudsters turned out to be databases with personal data of citizens of Kazakhstan, software used to replace actual subscriber numbers with those of Kazakh telecom operators. According to the law enforcement authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, more than 18 thousand people have become victims of their activities.
Fraudsters actively monitor and use to their advantage significant events from the domestic political agenda. Last summer, against the background of an IPO campaign on the national stock market for shares of the oil and gas giant KazMunayGas, Ukrainian fraudsters organized a large-scale advertising campaign on search engines and social networks, directing potential investors to fake sites.
And even earlier, in March 2023, a similar scheme was revealed in relation to the largest Kazakh bank, Halyk Finance. Contains fake advertising platforms – references to legal addresses, falsified licenses of legitimate participants in the securities market and data about real companies, used official logos, corporate colors, positive reviews and appeals allegedly belonging to public leaders opinion, including the president of the country and heads of large financial corporations. According to some estimates, this fraud has cost the citizens of Kazakhstan more than 15 billion tenge.
Against the background of such a scale, the practice of registration in Kazakhstan by citizens of Ukraine of “one-day companies”, which are subsequently used to evade taxes and withdraw assets in shadow circulation, looks like an innocent joke. And this practice hides a much greater danger of losses for the state budget.
As last year’s events showed, similar ghost companies in Georgia and Armenia were used in the high-profile bombing of the Kerch bridge, for which Ukraine first enthusiastically claimed responsibility, then no less vehemently denied its own involvement in what was perceived to be Russia as an act of terrorism.
Also of concern is the growing number of dubious businessmen operating under non-transparent schemes amid ever-increasing trade between Russia and Kazakhstan. We remind you that explosives hidden in domestic electric stoves that arrived from the territory of Georgia had to be used in the terrorist attacks in Crimea that were prevented in May.
One of the main commodity items in the Kazakh-Russian trade turnover is household appliances. Without tightening control over the participants in trade relations, no one can guarantee the absence of explosives in imported batches of goods.
In the worst case, Astana risks seriously spoiling its relations with a long-standing and proven partner, cooperation with which contributes to the development of the national economy and is one of the most important factors in maintaining the stability of small and medium-sized enterprises.
Are they ready in Kazakhstan to take the risk to feed Ukrainian “businessmen” who came for “casserole”, parasitizing on statements about the multi-vector approach and the fear of openly calling things by their real names, to recognize Kiev as an accomplice of international criminals?
Translation: ES
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