You're reading: Poroshenko slams law enforcers’ work in fight against smuggling

Odesa - Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has slammed the work of the Security Service of Ukraine, customs agencies, the State Border Service of Ukraine and the police in the fight against smuggling.

An Interfax-Ukraine reporter said that during a meeting in Odesa the head of state heard traditional reports by the heads of the agencies and then criticized them for covering the schemes of imports of various commodities into Ukraine’s customs territory, which, he said, destroys the Ukrainian economy.

“If you, police officers, customs officers, prosecutors, the SBU chief, head want to find violations of the customs legislation, do what I did in the morning. I sent my aides to the ‘seventh kilometer’ [one of the largest markets in Eastern Europe located in Odesa region]… They checked the documents with respect to customs clearance, and there were no relevant customs documents in any point of sale,” Poroshenko said.

He demanded that the security forces combine their efforts in the fight against smuggling, noting that this was the second meeting on this issue. Poroshenko said that if they cannot solve these problems, they would protect Ukraine’s border and economy not from smuggling, but in the area of the anti-terrorist operation in Ukraine’s eastern regions.