The SBU, Ukraine’s state security service, has reported on Tuesday that it blocked a systematic steal of aircraft components from the strategic aerospace enterprise.
According to a press release issued on 3 November by the SBU, the security service has blocked the illegal supply of helicopter engines to Russia.
The stolen spare part and engines were exported abroad by intermediaries outside customs control. According to forged documents, the equipment was sold to defense companies from the Middle East and the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Special service carried out an operation prepared using the operational capabilities of the Ukrainian Foreign Intelligence Service. Law enforcement officers detained suspects while trying to sell a helicopter engine worth $ 980,000.
Technical expertise has established that the engine is a dual-use product and can be installed on military helicopters of the Mil family.
During the s.earches in the offices of the Ukrainian intermediaries and the places of residence of the suspects, aviation spare parts for the Mi-2 and Mi-8 helicopters were found. Draft records confirming the illegal activities of the suspects were also seized.
