BeritaBali.com reports that The Denpasar Bali High Court has handed down two separate 20-year prison sentences to two Ukrainian twin brothers, Ivan Volovod and Mykyta Volovod, found guilty of operating an illicit narcotics manufacturing center at Villa Tibubeneng in North Kuta, Bali.
During the process of the trial, the twin brothers, aged 33, received sentences much shorter than the life sentences demanded by Public Prosecutors. Under Indonesian law, the two Ukrainians and the Prosecutors now have a limited period during which to seek a review of the case and a change in sentence.
The two men were found guilty under Article 113 Paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 132 Paragraph (1) and Article 111 Paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 132 Paragraph (1) of Law Number 35 of 2009 concerning Narcotics. The two men were deemed conclusively guilty of “an unlawful conspiracy to produce and distribute non-plant narcotics exceeding 5 grams,”
The Chief Judge of a three-judge panel hearing the case, Ketut Suarta, also levied an additional Rp. 2 billion fine on each man. The failure to pay this fine will result in a supplemental prison term of 10 months each.
In the trial, it was revealed that the twin brothers were initially invited to Bali by two of their colleagues, namely Roman Nazarenko and Oleksii Kolotov, who are still sought by police, and another suspect named Konstantin Kruts, who was arrested earlier.
According to investigators, in August 2021, Roman Nazarenko invited Ivan and Mykyta to come to Bali and get involved in the narcotics business with the promise of big profits. Ivan and Mykyta were promised a payment of $10,000 per kilogram for the production of mephedrone and $3,000 per kilogram for marijuana.
In January 2022, Roman introduced Oleksii Koletov (wanted by police) to the defendants as an investor who would finance the production of narcotics and help them learn hydroponic marijuana cultivation techniques. Oleksii then rented land at Sunny Villa, Jalan Penelsan Agung, Tibubeneng Village, North Kuta, where they built a center for their narcotics production activities.
For one year, from March 2022 to March 2023, Ivan and Mykyta, together with Roman, began to prepare the equipment and materials needed for narcotics production, procuring materials from marketplaces in Indonesia and China. Several chemicals, including bromo methylpropiophenone and glass ethic, were purchased to support the production of mephedrone. Meanwhile, marijuana seeds, were brought by Roman directly from Romania.
The final production was distributed via online motorcycle taxis to places ordered by Roman and Konstantin Kruts.
“Payment for these narcotics was made using cryptocurrency transactions on the Binance platform,” explained the public prosecutor in the indictment.
The illegal drug business was detected by the police based on reports from the public who noticed suspicious activities at the villa. On 02 May 2024, the National Police Criminal Investigation Team, in collaboration with the Bali Police, raided the location.
“During the raid, the police found a narcotics manufacturing laboratory in the basement of the house, as well as a hydroponic marijuana field. From the results of the search, the police confiscated 437 grams of mephedrone, more than 500 kilograms of chemicals suspected of being precursors for making narcotics, and 1,834 liters of liquid mephedrone and production equipment,” concluded the public prosecutor from the Badung District Attorney’s Office.
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