German citizen tries to smuggle over 1,500 packs of cigarettes from Ukraine

Published May 7, 2013 at 1:03 pm

ROMANIA, Suceava: A Romanian customs officer squats in a warehouse filled with smuggled cigarettes at customs headquarters in Suceava, 480 kms northeast of Bucharest, on February 5, 2010. On the eastern border of the European Union, the fight against contraband cigarettes from Ukraine, Moldova and Russia, as well as member states like Poland, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia, is intensifying as price hikes in western European countries have made trafficking even more lucrative. The number of cigarettes seized in the four countries bordering Ukraine has increased by nearly 50 million in a year, from about 843 million in 2008 to 891,5 million in 2009, according to data provided by customs offices.

Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU / AFP

More than 1,500 packs of cigarettes have been seized from a German citizen crossing the Ukrainian-Hungarian border at the Luzhanka checkpoint in Zakarpattia region.

Border guards and customs officers noticed a driver of a Ford minibus who was
trying to speed up the border crossing process, the press service of the State
Border Service of Ukraine reported on Tuesday.

A joint team of border guards and customs officers held a thorough check of
the minibus and found packs of Marlboro, West, Chesterfield, Bond, L&M, and
LD cigarettes produced in Ukraine.

“The cigarettes and the car that was used for the illegal movement of goods
worth more than UAH 64,000, have been seized,” the report says.