Photo: Customs officials discovered contraband cigarettes worth 20 million hryvnias hidden among strawberries
At the "Mamalyga" border crossing on the border with Romania, law enforcement officers stopped a truck that was transporting a large shipment of contraband tobacco products instead of the declared fresh strawberries.
The total value of the seized goods amounts to 19.3 million hryvnias.
Customs officials became suspicious during an initial inspection due to a discrepancy between the vehicle’s actual weight and the information listed in the accompanying documents.
The vehicle was promptly redirected to the “Porubne–Siret” border crossing for a detailed scan.
The scan results confirmed their suspicions—the images revealed clear anomalies indicating the presence of foreign objects among the berries.
During a subsequent in-depth inspection of the cargo, customs officers discovered hidden packages located behind pallets of strawberries.
The hiding places contained 357,000 packs of unfiltered “Ritm” brand cigarettes, which were manufactured in the Republic of Moldova and lacked the required Ukrainian excise tax stamps.
An attempt was made to illegally transport this shipment across the state border by carefully disguising it as seasonal produce.
Customs officers have already drawn up a report on a violation of customs regulations against the driver of the vehicle, a citizen of the Republic of Moldova, in accordance with Part 1 of Article 483 of the Customs Code of Ukraine.
All of the seized tobacco products are awaiting further investigation.
This was reported by the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
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