Customs officials facilitated the smuggling of electronic cigarettes.

In Bukovina, customs and border officials will be prosecuted for facilitating the smuggling of electronic cigarettes and evading 42 million UAH in customs duties. This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General on Sunday, February 2.

The prosecutors of the Chernivtsi regional prosecutor's office have submitted an indictment to the court against the customs and border officials.

They are accused of complicity in tax evasion during the importation of excise goods into Ukraine and abuse of office, which led to severe consequences.

Two officials from one of the customs posts of the Chernivtsi customs, along with a border service employee, facilitated the illegal importation of electronic cigarettes through the customs and state border of Ukraine.

The accused knowingly ignored the fact of the importation of electronic cigarettes from Europe into Ukraine at the checkpoint, "overlooking" the vehicles used for their transportation.

See the photo gallery: Customs officers facilitated the smuggling of electronic cigarettes

As a result of the illegal actions of the accused, nearly 170,000 electronic cigarettes were unlawfully imported into Ukraine, causing the state budget to lose almost 42 million UAH in tax and customs payments.

Recall that in the Lviv region, an attempt to illegally export cigarette manufacturing equipment across the Krakowiec checkpoint was prevented.

It was also reported that at the Malyy Bereznyy customs post on the border with Slovakia, Transcarpathian customs officers discovered almost two thousand packs of smuggled cigarettes in a vehicle with a double bottom.