Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) uncovered two smuggling operations at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport on July 14, the agency reported.
Smugglers had attempted to ship boxes with illegal goods on cargo airplanes. Among the illegal goods there were 4,700 gadgets, including Apple iPhones and MacBooks worth over $1 million, as well as 715 kilograms of tobacco and jewelry packed inside the iconic robin’s-egg blue Tiffany & Co boxes.
The photos show the smuggled Tiffany & Co. jewelry and Apple iPhones seized by Ukrainian law enforcement on July 14 at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport.
The goods came from the Middle East and Europe and according to the SBU, were going to be sold at local wholesale and retail outlets.
Those who sent the goods didn’t pay the mandatory customs duties and didn’t declare any goods worth over €10,000 to the State Border Guard Service as is required by the customs code. Instead, smugglers sent the cargo under the guise of personal belongings, the Security Service said.
Ukrainian law enforcement seized the illegal equipment. The smugglers will face a fine.
Smuggling or the so-called “gray import” accounted for nearly $10 billion in 2019, representing the largest share of Ukraine’s shadow economy that, in 2020, accounted for nearly a third of Ukraine’s $151 billion GDP.
Smartphones and tobacco are among the most common products seized at the border. Nearly half of all Apple devices in Ukraine are brought in unofficially and go untaxed, according to Apple’s official distributor ASBIS Ukraine.
Smugglers usually buy Apple devices in the countries where they are cheap and resell them in Ukraine at lower prices than official distributors.
To curb the flow of smuggled devices, Apple opened an office in Ukraine in June. Now, the company will take over the imports of Apple devices to Ukraine and distribute them to retailers.
Read more: Apple enters Ukraine to keep imports, smugglers in check
