More than 11,000 packs of cigarettes were found in a truck in Bukovina
Border guards discovered a hidden compartment in the truck containing more than 11,000 packs of cigarettes, concealed in a false floor. Operatives from the Chernivtsi Border Guard Detachment thwarted an attempt to illegally transport excise goods across the state border.
Specifically, at the “Mamalyga” border crossing point on the way out of Ukraine, a truck driven by a Moldovan citizen was stopped for inspection. The driver claimed he was transporting potato chips. However, border guards received information about a possible illegal shipment of tobacco products in the vehicle.
Therefore, the vehicle was removed from the general traffic flow for a thorough inspection. During the additional inspection, border guards, together with customs officials, discovered a false floor in the truck, in which cigarettes without excise tax stamps were hidden. In total, law enforcement officers discovered and seized over 11,300 packs of cigarettes with a total value of approximately 500,000 hryvnias.
The seized goods and the vehicle were confiscated and handed over to representatives of the Territorial Directorate of the State Border Guard Service in the Chernivtsi region. The operation was conducted jointly with representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Chernivtsi region under the procedural supervision of the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor’s Office.
Source: Western Regional Directorate of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine—Western Border
Earlier, Bukovina customs officers seized over 1,400 nicotine cartridges.
As a reminder, law enforcement officers in Kyiv uncovered a channel for the illegal smuggling of men subject to military conscription to Moldova. According to the investigation, the organizer of the scheme was a 25-year-old native of Zaporizhzhia who currently resides in the capital.
Law enforcement officials in the Odesa region exposed the organizer of an illegal scheme to smuggle men subject to military conscription abroad. According to police, an attempt was made to smuggle 147 men out of the country under the guise of sailors.
