Cars, weapons, body armor: half a billion worth of contraband was imported into Ukraine as humanitarian aid
Kyiv • UNN
The State Customs Service and the Ministry of Defense have uncovered illegal imports of cars, commercial goods and weapons under the guise of humanitarian aid for the Armed Forces. The value of the violations exceeds UAH 548 million.
Under the guise of humanitarian aid for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, cars, commercial goods, ammunition and even weapons were massively imported into Ukraine, which never reached the military. The total value of the detected violations is over 548 million hryvnias. This is reported by UNN with reference to the State Customs Service of Ukraine in Telegram.
Details
The State Customs Service, together with the Ministry of Defense, have revealed numerous facts of illegal import of cars and commercial goods into Ukraine.
In particular, a whole scheme of selling vehicles imported by a religious organization as humanitarian aid for the Armed Forces of Ukraine through an online platform was exposed. According to this scheme, almost 440 cars were imported into Ukraine under the guise of charity. At the same time, potential customs payments would have amounted to more than 60 million hryvnias.
It is also reported that the head of a charitable organization was found to have imported rifled hunting weapons and ammunition for them for the Armed Forces of Ukraine into Ukraine as humanitarian aid on the basis of permits issued by the National Police of Ukraine. An audit also revealed facts of non-declaration of spare parts for weapons, optical sights, silencers and 9,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as non-delivery of certain units of weapons to military units.
The import of helmets and body armor worth about UAH 100 million into Ukraine under the guise of humanitarian aid on the basis of forged end-user certificates was also revealed. However, these goods were never handed over to the Armed Forces.
In total, since the beginning of martial law in Ukraine, customs offices have already drawn up 1,339 protocols on violations of customs rules regarding humanitarian aid. In 708 cases, the recipients were military units, the report said.
The total value of the exposed offenses amounted to UAH 548.2 million. According to court decisions, fines and confiscations worth UAH 325 million were imposed, the State Customs Service press service summed up.
Let us remind you
In the Odesa region, two people, including a soldier, were detained, who tried to sell two armored vans imported as humanitarian aid.