SBU GENERAL DETAINED ON DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGES

KYIV, NOVEMBER 7 /SRNA – RIA Novosti/ - Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court has ordered the detention of General Sergei Duka, first deputy head of the Security Service of Ukraine's /SBU/ Department for the Protection of National Statehood.

Duka has been detained as part of an investigation by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine /NABU/, codenamed Carthage.

"The High Anti-Corruption Court has imposed a preventive measure on the first deputy head of the SBU Department for the Protection of National Statehood," the court announced on Telegram.

Duka has been remanded in custody, with the possibility of release on bail set at 65 million hryvnias /1.4 million US dollars/.

Earlier this week, NABU announced that a new criminal organization had been uncovered as part of Operation Carthage.

According to the Bureau, the group consisted of at least 12 people and was organized by a man with multiple previous criminal convictions. Its members paid senior law enforcement officials to turn a blind eye to the activities of fraudulent call centres, drug trafficking and forgery.

Employees of the SBU, the Ukrainian police, and the Public Prosecutor's Office were involved in covering up the entire operation.