Police in Kyiv have detained more than 60 people at an alleged gathering of organized crime bosses in the Ukrainian capital.
Authorities said the arrests were made late on November 26 during a raid by National Police and Ukrainian special forces at a restaurant in Kyiv's historic Pushcha-Vodytsia neighborhood.
A statement from Ukraine's National Police force said those gathered in Kyiv included powerful crime bosses who were able to "influence the criminal situation in Kyiv and other regions" of the country.
Andriy Kryshchenko, the head of the Kyiv branch of the National Police, said the 60 suspects were taken to police headquarters for questioning.
"It turned out that most of them have criminal records and have served sentences for committing various types of crimes in prisons," Kryshchenko said.
Kryshchenko also said knives and hand guns with "suspicious licenses" were seized from suspects during the late night raid on the restaurant.
He said several of the detained suspects had dubious identification documents.
He said investigators will decide after completing their probe what charges, if any, will be filed in the case.