Cigarette smuggling disguised as strawberries: ESBU notifies Moldovan citizen of suspicion in Chernivtsi region

 Under the guise of fresh strawberries, a citizen of the Republic of Moldova attempted to secretly smuggle 360,000 packs of cigarettes worth 15 million UAH across the border. Following this incident, detectives from the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Chernivtsi region have already notified the foreign national of suspicion regarding the large-scale smuggling of excise goods.

According to the investigation, the driver of the Moldovan transport company attempted to conceal a batch of foreign-brand cigarettes lacking excise duty stamps underneath crates of the legitimate berry cargo.

However, during customs control at the "Mamalyha-Criva" checkpoint, a discrepancy was discovered between the actual weight of the vehicle and the parameters specified in the accompanying shipping documents. For an in-depth inspection, the truck was redirected to the "Porubne-Siret" checkpoint, where a stationary scanner definitively confirmed the presence of unauthorized cargo.

As a result of the searches, 360,000 packs of illegal cigarettes worth 15 million UAH were seized, along with the truck and its refrigerated semi-trailer.

Currently, the foreign national has been notified of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 201-4 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (smuggling of excise goods, which refers to moving excise goods (tobacco products) across the customs border of Ukraine by concealing them from customs control, committed on a large scale).

The court has ordered a preventive measure in the form of detention, with an alternative of bail set at 832,000 UAH. The vehicle used for the smuggling operation has been seized.

Operational support is provided by officers of the 31st Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine. Procedural management is carried out by the Chernivtsi Regional Prosecutor's Office.

According to Article 62 of the Constitution of Ukraine, a person is presumed innocent of committing a crime and cannot be subjected to criminal punishment until their guilt is proven in a lawful manner and established by a guilty verdict of a court.