Amber Mafia

The Amber mafia is the criminal network in north-west Ukraine composed of those who illegally dig up amber on government land and smuggle it out for sale on the black market with the aid of armed gangs and corrupt politicians.[1]

In July 2016 prosecutor general Yuriy Lutsenko claimed, that the whole sum of Ukraine's military expenditures could be covered by incomes from illegal amber production, and ecology minister Ostap Semerak estimated the number of people involved in the illegal business to be around 10,000.[2] During the same year, 300 officers searched 123 homes for amber.[3] In May 2017 a protest meeting in support of legalization of amber extraction took place in Rivne, with local authorities claiming that its participants had been paid by organizers.[4]

Volodymyr Zelenskyy in 2019 requested the SBI, Security Service and National Police of Ukraine to deliver reports on the clandestine amber extraction.[5]

References

  1. ^ "Inside Ukraine's 'amber mafia'". Al Jazeera. 4 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Організований саботаж". 2016-12-10. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
  3. ^ "Ukraine declares full-scale war on 'amber mafia'". Kyiv Post. 5 July 2016.
  4. ^ "У Рівному відбувся «бурштиновий» мітинг. Голова ОДА заявив, що акція проплачена". 2017-05-03. Retrieved 2026-03-17.
  5. ^ "Malversation in Ukroboronprom, amber mafia and crimes against minors". President of Ukraine. 2 September 2019.
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