Customs officials in Kyiv intercepted an attempt to smuggle currency to Canada, with a total value exceeding 1.67 million UAH.
During the inspection of an international postal shipment from Ukraine to Canada, suspicions arose due to an unclear description on the declaration: «sample/18/1.5/17 US dollars».
Upon detailed inspection, the true contents of the package were revealed: metal bowls, a medicinal item, and several wrappers from chocolate products, which concealed 35,100 US dollars and 7,350 Canadian dollars. At the NBU exchange rate on the day of shipment, this amounts to 1,675,925 UAH.
This is one of the largest amounts found in international postal shipments recently.
According to Article 18 of the Universal Postal Convention, it is prohibited to include coins, banknotes, and other valuables in international postal shipments without declared value unless permitted by the national legislation of the sending and receiving countries.
Thus, the Kyiv customs created a report of customs violations under Article 473 of the Customs Code of Ukraine for sending prohibited goods in international postal shipments. The funds have been seized pending court decision.