Contraband discovered
As part of "State Border 2013" operation, at customs inspection of a cargo truck internal security together with inspectors of the Southern Customs of the Ministry of Revenue and Duties discovered in its trailer 49 cardboard boxes filled with excise stamps. 27 boxes contained almost 6 million of Ukrainian excise duty, the rest – 3 million unidentified stamps, reports the MRD’s press service.
The truck driver stated that vehicle owner told him to deliver the goods to Kharkiv and that he did not know what he was carrying, as he received the vehicle already with the sealed trailer on the ferry in Illichevsk. Not surprisingly, the vehicle’s owner also refused any responsibility of the illegal cargo. He claims that a friend found the cargo for transportation and loaded the truck in one of the Turkish cities and then sent it over to Ukraine by ferry.
Culpability of each member of this scam and the owner's name the illegal shipment was being transported to, are going to be established during further investigation. On this fact criminal proceedings were registered with the Single Register of pre-trial investigations on the grounds of a criminal offense under Part 1 of Art. 199 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. Odesa Oblast prosecution office submitted case materials to Internal affairs body.
