Dangerous business: over 20 Transcarpathians drowned last year in the Tisa trying to smuggle cigarettes

In 2018, over 20 citizens of Ukraine drowned attempting to smuggle cigarettes across the Tisa.

This was stated by the head of the State Border Guard Service Petro Tsyhykal in an exclusive interview for Censor.NET.

"For many thousands of people, smuggling is a life-long business, they don’t know how to do anything else, they’ve been doing it for decades. People risk their lives to avoid border guards. I will cite a sad statistics. In 2018, over 20 citizens of Ukraine drowned attempting to smuggle cigarettes across the Tisa. They buy wetsuits, but mountain rivers are very dangerous. Residents of the border region for some reason do not want to understand – the time is changing and we will keep gradually enhancing border security. Crossing it unnoticed is becoming more difficult," – he said.

However, he added that there is not enough resources for proper border control: "We need equipment, engineering structures, better provision, better conditions."