The work of Customs since the beginning of a full-scale invasion was very busy and full of unexpected moments. Daniil Menshikov, then head of Lviv Customs, told UNN about what events unfolded on the Ukrainian-Polish border in the first months after the full-scale invasion.
He said that there were attempts to smuggle absolutely commercial goods under the guise of humanitarian aid.
Of course. But thanks to operational information, well-coordinated work of customs officers, cooperation with other services, such businessmen were exposed. They tried to import a lot of things: exotic fruits, expensive cheeses, sausages, fish. Jamon, I remember, they wanted to import under the guise of humanitarian aid. These are goods that quickly deteriorate, and you can't keep them confiscated for a long time in a warehouse. A way out of the situation was found almost immediately. There was a database of contacts of military units, we call and ask: there is a persimmon car, will you accept it? And the Persimmon truck goes to the soldiers. Office equipment was repeatedly tried to bring under the guise of humanitarian aid, expensive phones. All this was confiscated. By the way, almost in the first days of the war, we opened warehouses of confiscated goods and gave everything that was possible to the army under the seizure procedure. Everyone gave away their cigarettes. Our watches were confiscated, so we also gave them to military units, so that there was something to reward soldiers with
There were also facts of importing cars ostensibly for the military, but in fact for sale.
"There was a lot of information that cars were imported, allegedly for the military, and then these cars appeared on Free Sale. Such facts were also recorded. Operational work was also carried out on them, when the car was imported, and then an ad for its sale appeared on the internet. They identified such people, " Menshikov said.
He added that these were cars of the middle price segment – up to 30 thousand dollars. But with luxury cars it was a different story.
Expensive cars were then imported legally, because there was zero customs clearance. To whom war, and to whom luxury. Imported, I remember: McLaren, Lamborghini for 350 thousand dollars. But if a person does not violate anything and imports a car legally, then from the point of view of the law there are no complaints against him
Read more in the Article UNN - border: the first days. What was the work of Ukrainian customs officers since the beginning of a full-scale war