E-cigarette liquid under the guise of household chemicals: Polish citizen tried to import undeclared goods to Ukraine

A Polish citizen tried to import into Ukraine e-liquid worth UAH 3.5 million under the guise of household chemicals. This was reported by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, according to UNN.

It is noted that on the night of September 18-19, a Mercedes Benz Sprinter driven by a Polish citizen arrived at the Shehyni-Medica checkpoint from the neighboring state.

When filling out the declaration, the driver indicated that he was transporting household chemicals with a total weight of 42 kg. However, during the inspection of the cargo compartment of the minibus, undeclared goods were found: 17 thousand 700 cans of liquid for filling electronic cigarettes with nicotine content, 10 and 30 ml. The estimated value of the found goods is UAH 3.5 million

Ukrainian customs officers drew up a report of administrative offense for failure to declare goods subject to statutory prohibitions and/or restrictions on importation into the customs territory of Ukraine.

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Oleksandr Ruvin, Director of Kyiv Scientific Research Institute of Forensic Expertise , toldthat due to the growing popularity of e-cigarettes, the institution's specialists have been conducting more frequent studies of tobacco products for electric heating and e-cigarette liquids. 

“Since the beginning of the year, we have been systematically assigned to examine classic tobacco products, electrically heated tobacco products, so-called HTPs, and e-cigarette liquids. The recent increase in popularity and associated risks of e-cigarettes has been even greater than that of conventional cigarettes. In almost every assigned examination, experts are provided with up to 150-200 objects, i.e. samples of the relevant products, each of which must be properly examined,” Ruvin said.