Contraband cigarettes found in a car with diplomatic license plates in Bukovina

In the evening, law enforcement officers intercepted a car with diplomatic license plates on the Ukrainian-Moldovan border, in which thousands of packs of cigarettes without excise stamps were found.

The incident occurred at the Mamalyga checkpoint. Ukrainian border guards, together with customs officers, inspected a car heading to Moldova. The driver was a Polish citizen born in 1964 who hoped that the car’s diplomatic status would allow him to avoid inspection.

However, during a detailed inspection, boxes filled with cigarettes without excise stamps were found in the passenger compartment and trunk. According to preliminary estimates, the total number of seized cigarettes was about 6.7 thousand packs, with a market value exceeding 970 thousand hryvnias.

Law enforcement officers noted that the offender tried to use diplomatic license plates, but his smuggling attempt was successfully stopped.

Also, a recent detention occurred at the Shehyny-Medica checkpoint on the Ukrainian-Polish border. There, customs officers discovered an attempt to illegally export an ancient 17th-century icon by Swiss artist Andreas Asper.

During an inspection of a Volkswagen Crafter, customs officers discovered the icon among the personal belongings of a Ukrainian returning from Poland. The author’s signature and inscription on the back confirmed its authenticity.

Experts from the Andriy Sheptytsky National Museum in Lviv estimated the icon at 25,000 US dollars, noting its significance for history and culture, which, in hryvnias, exceeds 1 million.

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