UNIAN

The batch has an estimated street value of almost UAH 1.4 billion,” the press office of the SBU reported.

"A steady transit channel for smuggling heroin from the Middle East to the EU countries (Iran-Turkey-Ukraine-Poland) has been identified," the statement reads.

According to the SBU, a transnational organized criminal drug group, which has been liquidated with the assistance of the State Border Service and the State Fiscal Service, consisted of a citizen of a European country (the organizer) and five Ukrainian citizens.

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According to the SBU, the half tonne of heroin arrived in Ukraine through Ilyichevsk customs checkpoint of Odessa customs service on the Cheng A ferry in a truck with rolls of waterproofing bitumen.

"The rolls with the drugs were specially marked for convenience. The drug dealers tried to smuggle drugs into Poland from Ukraine through the Yagodyn customs checkpoint," according to the report.

This is the largest consignment of illegal drugs ever intercepted in Ukraine, the SBU noted.