Editor’s note: This story has been updated with additional information from law enforcement.
Two employees of Ukraine’s Embassy in Poland were detained on Feb. 28 while trying to cross the border from Ukraine into Poland in a van filled with contraband cigarettes, gold and cash.
The van contained 8,826 cartons of cigarettes, 16 kilograms of gold and loads of cash, including $140,000, 67,200 euros, and 11,600 Polish zloty.
The embassy’s driver and the Attaché for Consular Affairs were caught red-handed and detained on the spot, police reported. However, they were not the only ones involved in the alleged smuggling operation, according to Ukraine’s Security Service and State Bureau of Investigations.
A group of five people coordinated the scheme. Both current and former employees of the embassy teamed up with a member of the Ukrainian military in the Poland-bordering Zakarpattia Oblast to bring contraband goods abroad.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba shared information about the incident on Facebook on March 1.
“During my tenure as minister, we will not stay silent about such shameful cases, nor will we cover up for those involved,” Kuleba said on March 1.
Hundreds of dollars in bundles were confiscated from two employees of Ukraine’s Embassy in Poland, who tried to smuggle cash, gold, and cigarettes from Ukraine into Poland on Feb. 28, 2021.
Kuleba recalled both employees from the embassy but has not yet fired them. The ministry has launched a disciplinary inquiry, separate from the police’s own investigation.
“Corruption is everywhere there are people,” Kuleba said. “The only difference is whether you tolerate it. In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, we do not.”
