Information about illegal migrants found in Israel reached the Luhansk SBU administration at about the same time as complaints from Luhansk residents that unknown people, under the pretext of processing papers for traveling abroad, took their documents. As it turned out, the criminals approached people of Jewish nationality, usually low-income, asking them to help form a group for a trip to Israel and offered to sign up for the list of departing people. Then the criminals took passports and other documents, money, and disappeared. Most of the affected Luhansk residents did not get their documents back.
Officers of the Security Service of Ukraine managed to identify the criminals: an unemployed 32-year-old resident of the city of Antratsyt and a woman from Donetsk region who posed as a consultant to the Israeli embassy in Ukraine. Taking documents from Luhansk residents, the man handed them over to passport service employees, who issued foreign passports. After finding people willing to leave for Israel, the criminals pasted the person's photo into a genuine passport, obtained visas at the embassy, and the Ukrainian, having changed his name and nationality, successfully departed for Israel. Such a service cost $3-4 thousand.
It has been proven that in this way the criminals sent three illegal migrants, and a fourth was preparing to leave. Security Service officers suggest that there were significantly more who left. The investigation will provide an answer to this question.
The fraudsters have been detained. During a search, they seized a large number of passports and other documents belonging to deceived Luhansk residents, as well as photocopies of visas. The investigation into this case is ongoing, and the circle of persons involved in committing these illegal acts is being established. Officials whose duties include the issuance of foreign passports are suspected of involvement.