THE WASTELAND ON FIRE

Changes in Polish law, introduced after critical wave of burning landfills in 2018, made illegal storage of waste more difficult, but old fraudulent schemes are still in place.
Every year, dozens of tons of illegal amber from Ukraine find their way into Poland. It is a business worth billions of dollars controlled by Ukrainian mafia. Without the precious raw material smuggled from across the eastern border, there would be no amber jewellery – Poland’s showcase product.
Dolna Krupa – a village near Trnava in Slovakia (about 60 kilometers from Bratislava) got into direct spotlight during this summer because of its new inhabitants. Pro-Putin motorcycle club the Night Wolves with their European “franchise” came to reside there in an old farm. They painted the buildings into camouflage colors, put up barbed wire […]
investigation, Jan Kuciak, mafia, organised crime, Slovakia
original reporting by Pavla Holcova, edited for VSquare by Eva Kubániová The town of Poprad – a gateway to the region of the High Tatras in northern Slovakia – has been attracting the Italian underworld for many years. In March 2017 we went with Ján Kuciak to the most popular Slovak mountains to find out what lied […]
investigative journalism, Jan Kuciak, mafia, organised crime