Smuggling record. In Transcarpathia, 12,500 packs of cigarettes were seized from illicit trafficking

The tax police units of the region have received information that in the region there was a channel for smuggling of tobacco products. Investigators and detectives carried out a range of measures in Beregovo district near the border with Hungary, as a result of which they found and seized 12,500 packs of cigarettes.

The cigarettes were packed in waterproof plastic bags and prepared for shipment abroad. Of this number, 10,000 packs of cigarettes were produced in Russia without excise stamps and other 2,500 packs were of domestic production with excise stamps for tobacco products of a standard form.

The estimated cost of the seized cigarettes is 162,500 UAH. "At present, this is the greatest number of tobacco products seized by the tax police in the region this year. Investigators of the Financial Investigation Department of the Main Office of the Ministry of Income in Transcarpathian region are establishing how the foreign-made cigarettes got to Transcarpathia and how criminals planned to use them" – the experts said.

In total, since the beginning of 2014, the tax police in the region have seized over 1.5 million hryvnia worth of excisable goods, including 400 thousand hryvnia worth of tobacco products. Three illegal alcohol shops have been closed. 13 criminal offenses related to illicit trafficking of excisable goods have been registered in the Unified register of pre-trial investigatio. Eleven guilty parties have been notified of the suspicion of having committed criminal offenses. The criminal proceedings against them have been sent to the judicial authorities.