9 years in prison for "business" from a cell: In Chortkiv, a gang that supplied drugs to a pre-trial detention center was convicted

9 years in prison for "business" from a cell: In Chortkiv, a gang that supplied drugs to a pre-trial detention center was convicted

Chortkiv District Court of Ternopil Region has issued a verdict for three members of an organized criminal group — Anatoliy Tanasyuk, Volodymyr Rozemborskyi, and Mykhaylo Slivinskyi. The offenders established a large-scale scheme for supplying psychotropic substances to the Chortkiv Correctional Facility, as well as distributing drugs through a network of hidden stashes and a Telegram bot in the Khmelnytskyi Region.

According to the investigation, this unprecedentedly audacious scheme operated from August 2024 to April 2025.

«Business» Behind Bars

The organizer of the group turned out to be Anatoliy Tanasyuk, who at the time was already held in cell No. 56 of the Chortkiv Correctional Facility No. 26 (pre-trial detention center). Using a prohibited tablet, he ordered wholesale batches of highly dangerous psychotropic substances — PVP («salts») and mephedrone — through the «Telegram» messenger.

He involved his acquaintances from the town of Dunaivtsi (Khmelnytskyi Region) — Volodymyr Rozemborskyi and Mykhaylo Slivinskyi — in the «business». Their role was to receive wholesale batches of drugs through parcel lockers and «Nova Poshta» branches, package them, and further distribute them.

Ketchup «Torchyn», Rice, and Noodles: How Drugs Were Smuggled into the Detention Center

To deliver drugs to the organizer and other inmates at the Chortkiv prison, the accomplices at large devised a variety of hiding places. During thorough inspections of parcels sent from Dunaivtsi to Chortkiv, law enforcement officers and detention center staff discovered packages of PVP and mephedrone carefully hidden in:

• ketchup packaging;
• bags of rice;
• meat products (sausages);
• cookies and wafers;
• instant noodle packs;
• even inside lighters.

The sender of the parcels was often one of the accomplices, who used fictitious names or the identities of deceased comrades to cover their tracks.

Telegram Store and Dozens of Stashes in Dunaivtsi

In addition to supplying the prison, the group actively sold drugs on the streets of Dunaivtsi. The organizer, directly from his detention cell, created a Telegram store and launched a bot for automated sales.

An accomplice at large made dozens of «stashes» with drugs across the town every day: near hospitals, gas panels, in tree stumps, hollows, under rocks on Mohylivska, Shkilna, Pushkina streets, and others. He photographed the hiding spots and sent the coordinates to the organizer in prison. The latter, in turn, uploaded the data to the bot. Clients paid for the goods through electronic wallets and bank cards (so-called «drops»), after which the bot automatically provided them with the coordinates of the stashes.

Large-Scale Investigation and Verdict

To uncover the scheme, law enforcement conducted extensive work: they wiretapped phone conversations, installed hidden microphones and cameras directly in the detention cell, conducted surveillance of the suspects at large, analyzed money movements on cryptocurrency exchanges and bank accounts, and performed DNA tests. The state spent over 250,000 hryvnias on judicial expertise alone in this case.

During mass searches in April 2025, a tablet and phones were seized from the organizer in his cell, while large batches of PVP, amphetamine, cannabis, electronic scales, magnets, and packaging materials were confiscated from his accomplices in Dunaivtsi.

In court, all three defendants fully admitted their guilt and expressed remorse.

Taking into account the severity of the crimes, on February 25, 2026, the judge of the Chortkiv District Court issued a verdict in case No. 608/2023/25:

The organizer was sentenced to 9 years of imprisonment with confiscation of property.

The other two were sentenced to 8 and 7 years of imprisonment (the latter having the status of a combat veteran and a Group 2 disability) with confiscation of property.

In addition, the court ordered each convicted person to pay over 85,000 hryvnias in procedural costs for conducting expertise. The seized narcotic substances will be destroyed.