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Leonid Zakutenko sold poison to vulnerable people who wanted to die – we confronted him at a post office in Kyiv.
BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountLiveNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityUKEnglandN. IrelandScotlandAlbaWalesCymruIsle of ManGuernseyJerseyLocal NewsHow we tracked down the Ukrainian poison sellerPublished8 hours agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage caption, The BBC asked Zakutenko what he had to say to the families of the deadBy Angus Crawford and Tony SmithBBC NewsA Ukrainian man who sells poison to people who want to take their own lives has been named by the BBC. This is the story of how – after a two-year investigation – we tracked the seller down and finally confronted him outside a post office in war-torn Kyiv.On a website where people openly discuss suicide, “the Ukraine supplier” was a name frequently discussed by members. The mysterious trader was shipping a chemical commonly used for suicide around the world from Ukraine’s capital. He has been linked to at least 130 UK deaths. We traced his online store, as well as his email address and PayPal account, and managed to identify the man as Leonid Zakutenko.In January 2022, we decided to make direct contact with Zakutenko, posing as an interested buyer on the pro-suicide forum. He quickly messaged back and said he could supply the chemical. The forum advises users to take anti-vomiting drugs along with the chemical. We asked if he could also supply these and he confirmed that he could.The BBC is not naming either the pro-suicide website or the chemical being sold.Then, a month later, Russian tanks rolled over the border into Ukraine and the possibility of confronting him on his home soil seemed gone for good. With war raging, we didn’t think he would be able to carry on trading.But we continued to catalogue the increasing number of deaths linked to the forum and met families whose loved ones had used the site to help end their lives. If you’ve been affected by the issues in this story, help and support is available via the BBC Action LineMore than a year passed, but in May 2023, the same forum and chemical hit the headlines following the arrest of another man who was frequently mentioned by members.Kenneth Law was arrested in Canada on suspicion of “counselling and aiding suicide” by distributing the dangerous product worldwide.The former chef has since been charged with 14 counts of murder and linked to hundreds of deaths around the world.It made us wonder if the Ukrainian was still in business and we set about tracking him down.We made contact again, posing as a buyer. He boasted that he was now sending “five parcels a week” to the UK and could offer an express service.For Zakutenko, it seemed, trade was good. Perhaps there was a gap in the market now that Kenneth Law was behind bars. We decided to try again to confront him. In January, we flew to Krakow, in Poland, and took the 12-hour car journey across the border to Kyiv, where we’d arranged to meet Zakutenko through a fixer who spoke Ukrainian. We discovered that Zakutenko was an AirBnB “superhost” and planned to meet under the pretence that we were interested in a long-term lease of one of his apartment rentals.Zakutenko had promised to show us around the apartment and we spent the long journey wondering whether he’d really turn up in person. From Leeds to KyivOur journey through war-torn Ukraine seemed a world away from the small front room in Leeds where the investigation started.There, Catherine Adenekan and Melanie Saville introduced us to the online forum promoting suicide, and the real-life impact it was having. The forum has tens of thousands of users, many of them young and vulnerable. Like Catherine’s son, Joe, who took his own life in April 2020. In just three weeks, the 23 year-old used the forum to source a lethal chemical and learn how to use it. Image caption, Joe’s mother, Catherine, and his sister-in-law, MelanieCatherine still has her son’s suicide note, tightly wrapped in a plastic police evidence bag. In it, he spells out how dangerous the forum had been for him.”Please do your best in closing that website for anyone else,” it reads.She’s been doing just that ever since, together with Joe’s sister-in-law Melanie.Together they have infiltrated the site, documented the numbers of deaths associated with it and identified people selling the chemical.They have been lobbying their local MP and talking to the media in an effort to get the forum closed down. “Without that site, there wouldn’t be a platform for people to sell poison,” says Melanie. The doorstepWhen we finally got to Kyiv and called to confirm arrangements, our hearts sank. Zakutenko told our fixer he was out of town and that a cleaner would show us the place instead. Was he really out of town? Or had he become suspicious? We’d heard stories of Ukrainian men of fighting age being stopped at roadblocks, drafted immediately into the army, and sent to the frontline. Perhaps Zakutenko was just trying to keep a low profile.We went to his apartment, a high-rise Soviet-era block on the city’s outskirts. There was no sign of him.Within walking distance was a post office. A quick check with contacts in London indicated that this was the counter where he’d been dispatching poison – the tracking details on a previous test purchase proved it.We messaged again, this time pretending to be a different UK buyer in urgent need of the chemical. He promised that he would send it within an hour if we paid for his “express” service. We did, hurriedly setting up a payment account and waiting outside his door as the minutes of that hour ticked by.But Zakutenko didn’t emerge.We messaged again. He replied, assuring us that the parcel had been posted and sent a tracking number. We convinced ourselves that he’d moved on and was now using a different post office. But the tracking number didn’t work. So we waited, just in case.Several long hours later a stocky man in a leather jacket and black beanie hat came out of the block, clutching a large black bag, ambling up the road toward the post office. It looked like the photographs we’d seen on Zakutenko’s social media, but it was hard to be certain.We followed the man inside and watched as he posted at least 15 parcels to different consignees around the world. As it was entered into the system, our tracking number suddenly appeared on the Ukrainian postal service website. It was Zakutenko. We had watched him dispatching the poison we had just ordered.Outside we were ready to confront him.But the city’s air raid sirens suddenly came to life, piercing the silence. We made a quick call to our safety adviser, to check if we had to take shelter. Thankfully they confirmed it was a false alarm and we continued to wait. This video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Media caption, Watch: “I don’t sell that. I don’t want to be famous,” says Zakutenko when confronted by BBCThe sirens were still wailing as Zakutenko walked down the post office steps.We asked him why he was sending poisonous chemicals to people who wanted to end their lives. The question was repeated in Ukrainian by our interpreter. “That is a lie,” he told us, before putting his hand over our camera and trying to walk away.We persevered and asked what he had to say to the families of the dead. “I don’t understand what you are talking about,” he replied.Over and over, he said he didn’t understand our questions. But he’d been messaging us in perfect English just a few hours earlier.We have alerted the authorities in both the UK and in Ukraine.The forum, where details of those selling poison are widely shared, is still up. The government says the new Online Safety Act gives Ofcom the power to take action against this kind of website. But Ofcom is still consulting on how the Act will be implemented and enforcement action won’t happen for many months.That’s too long for the families of those who’ve lost lives because of people like Leonid Zakutenko.Related TopicsSocial mediaUK governmentSuicide preventionMental healthUkraineMore on this storyCanadian ‘poison killer’ to head straight to trialPublished2 FebruarySuicide website linked to 50 UK deaths still active despite warningsPublished24 October 2023Top StoriesUN says many bullet wounds among Gaza convoy injuredPublished1 hour agoBiden treads carefully through Middle East minefieldPublished11 hours agoRents soar in commuter towns as tenants priced out of citiesPublished13 hours agoFeaturesWhat video and eyewitness accounts tell us about Gazans killed at aid dropBad blood over Singapore Taylor Swift tour subsidiesThe Papers: ‘Democracy under threat’ and ‘Farewell Navalny’Black country singers: ‘We’re tolerated, not celebrated’The two faces of Robert F Kennedy JrJools ‘can’t believe’ he’s finally number oneHow worried is Labour after losing Rochdale?’Cousin of the Kelpies’ unveiled on Glasgow canalHow big banks are becoming ‘Bitcoin whales’Elsewhere on the BBCWill this elite boarding school fit around them?Five black inner-city teens must leave their old worlds behind…AttributioniPlayerHair-pulling, wrestling and kicking!Watch the moment a violent brawl unfolded in the Maldives ParliamentAttributioniPlayerThe mysterious deaths of Nazi fugitivesThree brothers investigate whether a family connection may explain the truthAttributioniPlayerWhy do people behave the way they do on social media?Marianna Spring investigates extraordinary cases of online hate to find out…AttributioniPlayerMost Read1Killer whale vs shark: Solo orca eats great white2How did the viral Willy Wonka experience go so wrong?3Victoria Beckham’s fashion show disrupted by Peta4Rents soar in towns as tenants priced out of cities5US fashion designer Iris Apfel dies aged 1026UN says many bullet wounds among Gaza convoy injured7Bad blood over Singapore Taylor Swift tour subsidies8Jools ‘can’t believe’ he’s finally number one9’Democracy under threat’ and ‘Farewell Navalny’10How we tracked down the Ukrainian poison seller
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BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityWorldAfricaAsiaAustraliaEuropeLatin AmericaMiddle EastUS & CanadaCould you be a fair juror for Trump? We asked New YorkersThis video can not be playedTo play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.Could you be a fair juror for Trump? We asked New YorkersCloseJury selection is under way in Donald Trump’s New York City hush-money trial, with hundreds of people selected as potential jurors.They must answer a questionnaire to determine, among other things, if they can be impartial about the former president.The BBC asked some of those questions to Manhattan residents.SubsectionUS & CanadaPublished50 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRead descriptionExplore moreCould you be a fair juror for Trump? We asked New Yorkers. Video, 00:02:16Could you be a fair juror for Trump? We asked New YorkersSubsectionUS & CanadaPublished50 minutes ago2:16Up Next. A view from inside court for Trump’s blockbuster trial. Video, 00:01:15A view from inside court for Trump’s blockbuster trialSubsectionUS & CanadaPublished19 hours agoUp Next1:15Press, police and protesters: Outside Trump courthouse. Video, 00:01:12Press, police and protesters: Outside Trump courthouseSubsectionUS & CanadaPublished1 day ago1:12Trump’s ‘perp walk’ moment explained in 60 seconds. Video, 00:01:00Trump’s ‘perp walk’ moment explained in 60 secondsSubsectionUS & CanadaPublished31 March 20231:00Editor’s recommendationsCopenhagen stock exchange engulfed by huge fire. Video, 00:01:03Copenhagen stock exchange engulfed by huge fireSubsectionEuropePublished12 hours ago1:03Moment spire collapses at Copenhagen stock exchange. Video, 00:00:43Moment spire collapses at Copenhagen stock exchangeSubsectionEuropePublished11 hours ago0:43Dormice ladders built in the Forest of Dean. Video, 00:00:51Dormice ladders built in the Forest of DeanSubsectionGloucestershirePublished1 day ago0:51Liz Truss: The world was safer under Trump. Video, 00:00:35Liz Truss: The world was safer under TrumpSubsectionUK PoliticsPublished22 hours ago0:35Huge fires blaze along Miami highway. Video, 00:00:33Huge fires blaze along Miami highwaySubsectionUS & CanadaPublished12 hours ago0:33Watch: Georgia opposition leader punches MP during debate. Video, 00:00:34Watch: Georgia opposition leader punches MP during debateSubsectionEuropePublished21 hours ago0:34Wheelie bins fly and a caravan overturns in strong wind. Video, 00:00:24Wheelie bins fly and a caravan overturns in strong windSubsectionStoke & StaffordshirePublished1 day ago0:24Hannah Waddingham calls out demanding paparazzi. Video, 00:00:28Hannah Waddingham calls out demanding paparazziSubsectionEntertainment & ArtsPublished1 day ago0:28Endangered California condor chicks hatched in LA. Video, 00:01:28Endangered California condor chicks hatched in LASubsectionUS & CanadaPublished1 day ago1:28
[ad_1] Jury selection is under way in Donald Trump’s New York City hush-money trial, with hundreds of people selected as potential jurors. They must answer a questionnaire to determine, among…
BBC HomepageSkip to contentAccessibility HelpYour accountNotificationsHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeMore menuMore menuSearch BBCHomeNewsSportWeatheriPlayerSoundsBitesizeCBBCCBeebiesFoodClose menuBBC NewsMenuHomeIsrael-Gaza warCost of LivingWar in UkraineClimateUKWorldBusinessPoliticsCultureMoreTechScienceHealthFamily & EducationIn PicturesNewsbeatBBC VerifyDisabilityUKEnglandN. IrelandScotlandAlbaWalesCymruIsle of ManGuernseyJerseyLocal NewsFirst product of Meghan’s lifestyle brand revealedPublished11 minutes agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingImage source, ReutersImage caption, Meghan pictured at a polo match in Florida last weekBy Sean CoughlanRoyal correspondentA first glimpse of the new business venture from the Duchess of Sussex has been teased on social media, with pictures of a jar of strawberry jam.In a bid to preserve a sense of mystery, the jam from the new American Riviera Orchard brand seemed to be spread among friends and influencers.Fashion designer Tracy Robbins posted a picture of the jam on Instagram.It was numbered “17 of 50”, suggesting the number of recipients of this first fruit of the new business.The arrival of Meghan’s new California-based lifestyle brand had been signalled on social media last month and this suggests that it will be selling food products.What do we know about Meghan’s new brand?Five things about Harry and Meghan’s brand revampWhy did Harry and Meghan leave the Royal Family?There seemed to be have been something of a re-launch for Meghan and husband Prince Harry’s brands and businesses this year, beginning with the overhaul of their regal-looking website under the sussex.com label.Their latest projects seem to be moving away from a previous focus on their time as working royals, such as their Netflix film Harry and Meghan and Prince Harry’s memoir Spare.The hint about the strawberry jam from Meghan’s American Riviera Orchard brand seems to fit with the couple’s latest Netflix plans.Meghan is going to launch a Netflix show which will “celebrate the joys of cooking and gardening, entertaining, and friendship”.Prince Harry will be involved in another Netflix venture showing the inside track on the world of polo. That’s the equestrian sport, not the mints.Delfina Blaquier, married to Prince Harry’s polo-playing friend Nacho Figueras, also posted a picture of the new jam, with hers labelled “10 of 50”.The social media trail for American Riviera Orchard evokes a sense of the couple’s home in California – and this soft launch for the jam show pictures of the jars in a sunny basket of lemons.It’s not known how much items from the new lifestyle brand will cost. Although there are already plenty of other royals getting into jams. Visitors to the gift shops in royal palaces can get a Buckingham Palace Strawberry Preserve for £3.95 or Windsor Castle Fine Cut Seville Orange Marmalade, also for £3.95.On both sides of the Atlantic they seem to be conserving their finances.Related TopicsUK Royal FamilyMeghan, Duchess of SussexMore on this storyWhat we know about Meghan’s regal lifestyle brandPublished16 MarchMeghan launches surprise new lifestyle brandPublished14 MarchTop StoriesMPs back smoking ban for those born after 2009Published8 minutes agoMuslim student loses school prayer ban challengePublished2 hours agoBowen: Iran’s attack on Israel offers Netanyahu a lifelinePublished7 hours agoFeaturesJeremy Bowen: Iran’s attack on Israel offers Netanyahu a lifelineIranians on edge as leaders say ‘Tel Aviv is our battleground’A really, really big election with nearly a billion votersWhat is the smoking ban and how will it work?Martin Tyler: I nearly lost my voice foreverWho are the millions of Britons not working?How to register to vote for the local elections ahead of midnight deadlinePlaying Coachella after cancer emotional, says DJHow the Alec Baldwin fatal film set shooting unfoldedElsewhere on the BBCFrom weight loss to prolonging lifeIs intermittent fasting actually good for you? James Gallagher investigatesAttributionSoundsCould Nina shake up the unspoken rules of modern dating?Brand new comedy about love, friendship and being your own selfAttributioniPlayerWill the UK introduce tough anti-tobacco laws?Under new plans, anyone turning 15 from this year would be banned from buying cigarettesAttributionSoundsCan William Wisting find the truth?The Norwegian detective returns, tackling more grisly cold casesAttributioniPlayerMost Read1Nursery boss ‘killed baby she strapped to beanbag’2Birmingham Airport flights disrupted by incident3Muslim student loses school prayer ban challenge4First product of Meghan’s lifestyle brand revealed5MPs back smoking ban for those born after 20096Police told to shut down right-wing Brussels conference7Historic Copenhagen stock exchange goes up in flames8Bowen: Iran’s attack on Israel offers Netanyahu a lifeline9Marten a ‘lioness’ who ‘loved her cubs’, court told10Sons of McCartney and Lennon release joint single
[ad_1] The jars of strawberry jam, labelled America Riviera Orchard, have been shared with friends and influencers.