Sadovskis said that the Economic Crime Prevention Department (ENAP) of the State Police has discovered a group of six people which had allegedly swindled beekeepers out of four tonnes of honey. Three people have been detained in connection with the fraud, and the police are trying to locate three more.
In late August 2015, the ENAP started criminal proceedings upon receiving information that several apiarists had fallen victim to the fraud. Investigators found out that the honey had been swindled in a fraud scheme that lasted from July to August 2015.
In the course of the investigation, police discovered that a group of six people may have been at fault at the fraud.
The group had allegedly falsified documents and, under the guise of being representatives of the Mežrozīte company, struck up fictitious agreements with more than ten unsuspecting apiarists who fell right into the honeypot the unscrupulous businessmen had prepared for them.
ENAP have so far detained a man and two women in connection with the fraud. The two women are under police supervision, while the man has been put behind bars.
The police are looking for three people - 35-year-old Jevgenijs Altuņins, 43-year-old Sigits Petkelis and 49-year-old Aleksandrs Stahovskis - who are suspected to have taken part in the fraud.