Smuggling, evaders and drones to deliver cigarettes: border guards detained on-duty dealers

04.09.2023 16:00

The past week has been quite “fruitful” for border guards. Thus, during the weekend alone, 20 citizens were brought to justice for attempting to illegally cross the state border of Ukraine.

In particular, border guards of the border department of the Kelmenets border service detained 2 offenders who tried to enter Moldova outside the checkpoints. During the detention, the border outfit was forced to fire warning shots to stop the men.

The detainees turned out to be residents of Rivne and Volyn regions, who are restricted from leaving Ukraine. For malicious disobedience to fugitives, the border guards drew up a protocol under Art. 185 kUPap.

At the same time, during the weekend, the soldiers of the departments of “Hertz”, “Porubne”, “Falkiv” and “Selatin” stopped 10 cases of illegal border crossing and detained another 18 conscripts who were illegally trying to enter Romania.

The men, residents of Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Kyiv and Vinnytsia regions, could not confirm the purpose of their arrival at the border, and later confessed their intention to illegally cross the border.

All detainees are held accountable under Art. 204-1 KUPAP “Illegal crossing or attempted illegal crossing of the state border of Ukraine”.

In addition, border guards discovered smuggled products from gadgets worth 5 million hryvnias. So, during the inspection, it turned out that in the air filter compartment and under the seat of the Mercedes minibus, a 42-year-old man hid 250 AirPods headphones, 18 MacBooks, 13 iPads, digital cameras, etc.

Customs officers drew up a protocol. Undeclared goods were withdrawn in accordance with the established procedure. At market prices, its estimated cost is about 5 million hryvnias.

But in Lviv region, border guards found drones with which traders tried to move cigarettes abroad.

The servicemen of the department “Rava-Ruska” provided information about listening to the noise of the drone engine near the state border. Additional outfits were put forward for verification from the border unit.

Subsequently, on the outskirts of n.p. In July, at a distance of 12 km from the state border, border guards found a Mercedes minibus, which contained control panels, screws, homemade batteries and a box of cigarettes.

During a survey of the area, with the help of a service dog, law enforcement officers found two drones. Subsequently, not far from the “birds”, the outfit found three laptops in the forest strip.

On this fact, the border guards informed the employees of the National Police, to whom everything they found was handed over.

In total, on September 3, 99 thousand people and 20 thousand vehicles crossed the western borders of Ukraine with the EU and Moldova (in the Chernivtsi region).