A Czech company was reselling drones to Ukraine at a price 20 times higher

The Czech company Reactive Drone was selling Chinese drones to the Ukrainian army at prices inflated by 10–20 times.

This was reported by Radiožurnál, citing sources familiar with the investigation.

The firm was founded in June 2022 and is officially registered at an address in a residential building on the outskirts of Prague, where it in fact only rents a virtual office. Residents of the building told journalists they had never heard of the company before.

According to the sources, in 2023 Reactive Drone purchased drones worth roughly 36 million crowns, but sold them to Ukraine for a total of 692 million crowns. Most of the profit — about 638 million crowns — was transferred to bank accounts in China.

Police suspect the company’s management of tax evasion. Investigators believe the firm used fake invoices to artificially reduce its tax base. As part of the case, the company’s director and its accountant were detained. The latter, according to Radiožurnál, has confessed and is under investigation while at liberty.

Law enforcement conducted searches and seized documentation and electronic media, and also froze about 384 million crowns in Reactive Drone’s accounts. Investigators believe the damage to the state may turn out to be even higher, as the drone resale scheme continued into 2024 with even larger volumes.