The State Fiscal Service of Ukraine has recorded a one-third rise in the number of violations of customs rules in 2017. Altogether, 32,200 instances were recorded to the tune of $55.6 million in 2017. In 2016, a total of 23,200 cases worth some $73 million were observed, Interfax-Ukraine reports.
According to a report on the institution’s Facebook page, some 7,800 cases accounting for $51.4 million were sent to courts. Courts issued orders the seizure of goods worth $15.2 million and imposed fines on other goods worth $14 million.
According to the State Fiscal Service, goods worth $26 million were seized in 2017. The majority of cases involved food transportation – 2,700 cases worth $2.37 million.
Another 2,700 cases worth over $19 million involved transportation of industrial goods.
Over the period in question, some 444 cases worth $2.78 million of currency transportation were recorded,” the institution added.
The fiscal service said that in 2017 customs officials uncovered 1,200 instances of illegal transportation of drugs and psychoactive substances, primarily through mail (595 of those).
Most instances of attempted smuggling of drugs and psychoactive substance were observed at the border with Russia (295 cases), with Belarus (110 cases) and Moldova (93 cases).