A citizen of the Carpathians burned down a military man's car to earn money to play in an online casino

In the Carpathian region, suspicion has been reported against the fourth member of a group involved in property arson organized on behalf of Russian special services. It turned out that the Frankivsk resident destroyed the military car in exchange for replenishing his account in an online casino.

Informant Kolomyia shares the details.

As the SBU reported, the 36-year-old suspect, who had previously been brought to administrative responsibility for petty theft of other people's property, was looking for easy money. At the end of August 2024, he learned from his friend about the opportunity to earn money by setting fire to military vehicles and offered his participation.

On the instructions of the curator, with whom the friend communicated in a popular messenger, the attackers doused a hatchback «Peugeot» of a protective color with gasoline and set it on fire in one of the courtyards of the regional center. At the same time, the arsonist filmed evidence of the arson to send it to the customer. As established by the special services, for the destruction of the car he received a reward in the form of replenishment of his account in an online casino by 5 thousand hryvnias.

The prosecutor's office reported that the suspect participated in the arson of a car in Ivano-Frankivsk. His accomplices, who were exposed earlier, carried out orders for a monetary reward. They looked for cars that, in their opinion, belonged to the military, coordinated their actions with the customer, used flammable materials and sent video reports on the work performed.

In total, three cars were destroyed. One of the accomplices is also involved in setting fire to a railway cabinet.

A 36-year-old arsonist was reported on suspicion of intentional destruction of another's property by arson (Part 2 of Article 194 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

All four suspects are in custody. The perpetrators face up to 10 years in prison.

Natasha Kumar

By Natasha Kumar

Natasha Kumar has been a reporter on the news desk since 2018. Before that she wrote about young adolescence and family dynamics for Styles and was the legal affairs correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times Hub, Natasha Kumar worked as a staff writer at the Village Voice and a freelancer for Newsday, The Wall Street Journal, GQ and Mirabella. To get in touch, contact me through my natasha@thetimeshub.in 1-800-268-7116