Anti-corruption authorities detained Volodymyr Tsenov, first deputy head of the National Police's Strategic Investigations Department, on 4 November, according to law enforcement sources cited by Ukrainska Pravda. The detention followed the publication of additional material related to the Carthage case, which includes allegations that fraudulent call centres received police protection.
The sources identified Tsenov as the person referred to by the codename Price in recordings connected to the investigation. They told Ukrainska Pravda that he had been detained that day. The identification of Tsenov by name came from the outlet's sources in law enforcement agencies.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine, known as NABU, had previously described Price as one of the officials leading the National Police's Strategic Investigations Department. Investigators allege that the official's role was to ensure police protection for fraudulent call centres. That alleged responsibility was the role investigators attributed to the person heard in the recordings under the codename.
The report of Tsenov's detention came on the same date as searches involving a senior figure in the Security Service of Ukraine, or SSU. On the morning of 4 November, NABU carried out searches targeting Anton Kravchuk, who heads the SSU's Main Department of Internal Security.
NABU had also reported an incident during searches authorised by a court. According to the bureau, a senior SSU official who was under investigation threatened to use firearms and prevented detectives from gaining access to the location they were seeking to search.
Ukrainska Pravda's sources identified that official as General Serhii Duka, first deputy head of the SSU's Department for the Protection of National Statehood. NABU officers subsequently detained Duka. The reported threat and refusal to admit detectives were attributed by NABU to a senior official, while Duka's name was supplied by the outlet's sources.
The Carthage case also includes a reported plan to attack investigative journalist Denys Bihus. Members of the criminal organisation uncovered through the operation had planned a violent assault on him because of an investigation by Bihus.Info. That reporting concerned U420, a retail chain that sold narcotics. The source described the planned attack as retaliation for the outlet's investigation into the chain.
