Cigarette smuggling worth 15 million UAH in strawberries: ESBU detectives completed the pretrial investigation

 In Bukovyna, a citizen of the Republic of Moldova will stand trial, who tried to move cigarettes worth 15 million UAH across the border under the guise of strawberries.

Detectives of the Territorial Office of the ESBU in the Chernivtsi region completed the pretrial investigation and referred the indictment to the court.

According to the investigation data, the man tried to hide a batch of 360 thousand packs of cigarettes of a foreign trademark without excise tax stamps under boxes with a legal berry cargo.

However, during the passage of customs control at the “Mamalyha-Kryva” checkpoint, employees of the Chernivtsi Customs discovered a discrepancy in the weight parameters of the vehicle according to the shipping documents.

For an in-depth inspection, the truck was directed to the “Porubne-Siret” checkpoint, where a stationary scanner definitively detected the illegal cargo.

As a result of the inspection of the scene, 360,000packs of illegal cigarettes worth 15 million UAH were seized, as well as the truck with a refrigerated semi-trailer.

The actions of the foreigner are qualified under Part 2 of Article 201-4 of the CC of Ukraine (smuggling of excise goods, that is, movement across the customs border of Ukraine with concealment from customs control of excise goods (tobacco products), committed in a large size).

The court imposed a preventive measure on him in the form of detention, with an alternative of bail for UAH 832,000. An arrest was imposed on the vehicle used for smuggling.

At the same time, the pretrial investigation regarding other participants in this scheme is ongoing.

Operational support is carried out by employees of the 31st Border Guard Detachment of the State Border Guard Service. Procedural oversight—Chernivtsi Oblast 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 accordance with the law and established by a court verdict of conviction.