You're reading: Slovak Spectator: Man impersonating diplomat caught smuggling cigarettes

A man pretending to be a Polish diplomat attempted to smuggle nearly 600 cartons of cigarettes with Ukrainian control stamps from Ukraine to Slovakia. The tax evasion might have exceeded 16,500 euros, the SITA newswire reported on April 28.

Driving a diplomatic vehicle, the man was detained when trying to pass the customs border crossing in Vyšné Nemecké, in eastern Slovakia. The customs officers who detained him said that he was behaving unusually.

The car had a Polish registration number, and was marked as a diplomatic vehicle, but the man did not have a diplomatic passport. He told the customs officers he was transporting diplomatic mail, but they revealed during the inspection that the packages lacked the signs or markings typical for diplomatic mail.

After a more detailed inspection the customs officers discovered about 119,940 cigarettes of various brands with Ukrainian stamps. The man was detained and put into preliminary custody, SITA reported.

Meanwhile the investigator of the criminal department of the Financial Administration charged the man with violating the rules over state technical measures pertaining to marking goods. The investigator also plans to submit the file to an investigation and has proposed taking the Pole into custody, SITA reported.

The man has never worked in Lvov, Ukraine, said spokesperson for the Financial Administration Patrícia Macíková. She added that the stamps on his car can be bought freely in shops. Though the document the man showed police officers had a stamp from the Polish embassy in Ukraine, it served a purpose other than the transport of diplomatic mail, the spokesperson added.