The police in Ukraine's capital have arrested four suspects involved in a criminal act. The offenders forced a young man to wear handcuffs and, threatening him with a firearm, demanded money that they claimed he owed them. For this crime, they face up to twelve years in prison.
The victim is a 24-year-old Kyiv resident engaged in social media promotion. Authorities discovered that a day prior to the incident, an unknown man contacted him, inviting him to a meeting under the pretext of discussing business.
During the conversation in the victim's car, two unknown men suddenly joined them, handcuffed the victim, and demanded $50,000, which the Kyiv resident supposedly owed them. However, after failing to obtain the money, the criminals fled.
Investigators, alongside analysts, established that four local residents aged between 19 and 41 were involved in the crime.
The criminals devised a detailed plan; one of them located the victim on social media, suspecting he had significant financial resources. Another perpetrator created a profile on a messaging app and contacted the victim pretending to be a potential client to arrange the meeting. The other two carried out direct physical threats and coercion.  
Under the supervision of the Obolon District Prosecutor's Office, the investigators informed the suspects of the charges under part 4 of Article 189 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine – extortion committed by a group of individuals in conspiracy during a state of emergency. The penalty for this article includes imprisonment for up to twelve years along with confiscation of property.