Border guards in the Chernivtsi region fired warning shots to stop two off-road vehicles moving toward the state border.

The drivers left the cars filled to the brim with cigarettes and fled. However, officers managed to detain the organizer of the deal, who turned out to be a local resident.

The dealers were transporting 34.5 thousand packs of cigarettes without excise stamps in their vehicles, totaling UAH 1.5 million. In addition, the smugglers were carrying wooden ladders, which they planned to use to overcome engineering structures on the border with Romania. The vehicles and the found goods were seized by representatives of the Economic Security Bureau.

The search for the persons involved in the fraud is ongoing.