A large-scale tax evasion and electronics smuggling scheme has been exposed in Ukraine. Law enforcement conducted a series of searches in gadget and electronics stores "Techno Hedgehog", UNN reports.
Details
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, it has been established that a group of individuals operating under a single trademark of one of the well-known brands in the field of computer equipment and mobile phones sales deliberately divided the network into more than 100 controlled individual entrepreneurs (FOPs) in order to minimize tax obligations.
Under the procedural guidance of prosecutors from the Prosecutor General's Office, on July 11, 2025, 26 searches were conducted as part of criminal proceedings for tax evasion and the organization of popular equipment smuggling channels. Among the items seized during the searches were over 3000 units of equipment from well-known global brands, including Apple, Garmin, Lenovo, Dell, EcoFlow, for which no origin documents were available.
Also, according to the Prosecutor General's Office, the possible involvement of customs officials in the functioning of the channel for illegal movement of equipment across the state border of Ukraine outside or with concealment from customs control is being checked.
The investigation is ongoing. Measures are being taken to establish the full circle of involved persons and to compensate for the damages caused to the state by the illegal scheme, the prosecutors summarized.
Context
Earlier, journalist Yevhen Plinsky reported that on July 11, employees of the Bureau of Economic Security conducted searches in gadget and electronics stores "Techno Hedgehog".
According to him, law enforcement visited the network, which is engaged in the sale of "gray", i.e., not intended for sale in our country, Apple equipment.
"Searches ... both at the company's warehouses in Kyiv and Lviv regions, and at Lviv customs officers involved in the scheme of importing illegal phones," the journalist reported.
According to the investigation, as Plinsky writes, illegal Apple equipment entered Ukraine in so-called "Iveco buses" bypassing customs attention, and then was sent in large batches by mail to network warehouses of stores, including the warehouses of the "Techno Hedgehog" network, owned by Kharkiv entrepreneur Oleksiy Hulyi.