At the Shehyni checkpoint on the border with Poland, two attempts to bring a large consignment of undeclared electronic equipment into Ukraine were stopped within 24 hours. According to preliminary estimates, the total value of the seized goods is almost UAH 18 million. This was reported by the 7th Carpathian Border Detachment.
The first incident occurred during an inspection of a Mercedes driven by a 36-year-old resident of Ivano-Frankivsk region. In the cabin, among personal belongings, border guards and customs officers found Apple equipment that had not been entered in the customs declaration. The seized items included smartphones, headphones and mains chargers.
The driver explained that he was transporting the equipment from Prague to Ivano-Frankivsk for his family, but the number of new gadgets raised suspicions among law enforcement officers. The estimated value of this consignment of undeclared goods is around UAH 850,000. Customs officers drew up a report and the equipment was transferred to the customs warehouse.
The second episode was recorded during an in-depth inspection of a Mercedes minibus driven by a 46-year-old resident of Lviv region. The woman was entering Ukraine together with passengers. According to information from the detachment’s operational staff, using special technical equipment, they discovered 487 units of undeclared electronics in a specially equipped hiding place – a double wall between the passenger and cargo compartments.
The items found included 462 units of Apple equipment, 19 Samsung mobile phones and 6 Google mobile phones. The estimated value of this consignment is about UAH 17 million. For the customs rules violation, customs officers drew up a report under Part 1 of Article 483 of the Customs Code of Ukraine, and the equipment and vehicle were seized and taken to the customs warehouse.
In addition, in relation to the second incident, a report was sent to the Territorial Office of the Bureau of Economic Security in Lviv region regarding the detection of signs of a criminal offence under Article 203-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.