While Rivne region is associated with illegal lone diggers, the investigation has documented a different model: organized business with a legal facade. Companies received special permits for earth works — land reclamation, territory clearing, geological exploration of mineral resources — and under this cover conducted industrial amber extraction. This is the scheme that a joint operation by the National Police and the Office of the Prosecutor General is now investigating.
40 searches in one day
On June 9, law enforcement conducted over 40 simultaneous searches — on land plots, at amber processing and storage facilities, and in the offices of the suspects. The operation covered several regions, although Rivne region remains the traditional center of illegal extraction.
So we are currently conducting procedural measures. We will disclose all the details after the investigative actions are completed.
— Yulia Hirdvilis, Head of the Department of Communications of the National Police of Ukraine
The searches were confirmed in the Office of the Prosecutor General — a criminal proceeding has been opened. According to Ukrainian Wall, among the suspects are heads and owners of companies that have been operating in this field for years. Investigators are seizing documents, equipment, raw amber and processed stones.
What the numbers show
According to preliminary estimates by the investigation, environmental damage exceeds 350 million hryvnias. Separately, there are tens of millions of hryvnias in unpaid rent payments to the budget. This is not abstract: the rental rate for amber extraction is 25% — one of the highest in Ukraine, exceeded only by gas rent. This means that from every hryvnia of the extracted stone's value, the state should have received a quarter — and did not.
A specific example of the scheme is already known from Volyn: a Lviv enterprise for five years formally conducted "geological exploration of mineral resources" of a coal deposit near the village of Blahodatne in Volodymyr district, then changed the type of activity to "pilot-industrial development" — and began full-scale industrial mining.
The environmental dimension is equally serious: according to scientific research by the National University of Life and Environmental Sciences, illegal mining in Polissia completely destroys the fertile soil layer on worked areas, and reclamation of such lands requires decades.
A scheme that survived several "cleanups"
This is not the first major operation against the amber business. The peak of illegal extraction in Polissia occurred in 2016–2017 — when volumes were estimated at 120 to 300 tons per year. Since then, criminal cases have been opened, two deputies have been stripped of immunity, a bill was adopted in first reading — but Ukraine still has not received a systematic law on amber extraction and sale.
The current operation differs in its focus: not on small diggers, but on a corporate model with documentary cover. This is why the investigation is seizing documents and checking offices first.
If the investigation proves guilt in court and a guilty verdict is delivered — under Article 240-1 of the Criminal Code, the suspects face 4 to 7 years imprisonment with confiscation of property. But the real question is different: will a law finally appear that closes the loophole with special permits — because without it, the next "amber scheme" disguised as land reclamation could start even before this trial concludes.
