Border guards detected more than 400 citizens with forged documents at the BCP in Bukovina and seized contraband goods worth almost 100 million hryvnias.

Lt. Col. Vyacheslav Kryvoruchko, head of the border control organization department of the Chernivtsi detachment headquarters, told about the situation at the BCP and the results of combating illegal activities at the border with Romania and Moldova within the borders of the Chernivtsi region.

He noted that since the first days of the full-scale invasion and the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, the workload on personnel at the BCP with Romania and Moldova has increased significantly. The passenger traffic flow at the Porubne checkpoint has increased several times. The border guards, in cooperation with their Romanian and Moldovan colleagues, took all measures to ensure the uninterrupted passage of citizens across the border. Thus, in 2022, 2,835,000 people and 886,000 vehicles were registered at checkpoints (2021 – 1,620,000 people and 582,000 vehicles).

During the past year, the border guards of the Chernivtsi detachment actively opposed illegal activities at checkpoints. In the reporting period, border guards detected 426 people who used documents with signs of forgery for the purpose of illegally crossing the state border: 321 persons of them are men of conscription age, whose right to leave Ukraine is restricted during the legal regime of martial law; 3,628 persons were refused entry across the border for various reasons (2,791 of them are citizens of Ukraine, 837 are citizens of other countries).

During passport control, special attention was paid to such a category of citizens as children. This year, 3 cases of illegal removal of 4 children from Ukraine were prevented. The case when two Chinese citizens tried to take two undocumented babies to Romania gained particular resonance. During verification measures, it was established that the foreigners had arrived in Ukraine the day before without children.

Also, in 115 cases, the movement of contraband goods for a total amount of almost 100 million hryvnias was stopped. Border guards detected 17 weapons and more than 240 ammunition.

Persons from the category of illegal migrants were also detained. In particular, 5 citizens of Syria and one citizen of Afghanistan who tried to cross the border without going through border control procedures were found in cargo vehicles.