Three men jump into Tisa River after being caught with smuggled cigarettes at Valea Vișeului
Border police recovered six parcels containing 3,250 packets of Ukrainian cigarettes valued at 63,000 lei. The suspects escaped by swimming to the Ukrainian bank.
Warning shots at Ukraine border, three suspects flee by swimming across Tisa
Three men caught with six parcels of smuggled cigarettes near Valea Vișeului jumped into the Tisa River on Friday evening and swam to the Ukrainian bank, reports Cotidianul.ro, citing information from News.ro.
The incident occurred around 21:00 when a patrol from the Border Police in Sighetu Marmației observed the three men moving on foot approximately 20 metres from the border line, carrying bulky parcels in the direction of Valea Vișeului.
Following verbal orders from the officers, the suspects abandoned the cargo and fled towards Ukrainian territory. The team fired five warning shots vertically into the air, in accordance with legal procedures, but the three ignored the orders, threw themselves into the waters of the Tisa and swam across to Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities were subsequently notified for joint investigation of the case.
The officers recovered the six abandoned parcels, which contained 3,250 packets of cigarettes of Ukrainian origin, lacking fiscal stamps. The total value of the cargo was estimated at approximately 63,000 lei. The entire quantity was seized for confiscation, and investigations were opened for smuggling and fraudulent border crossing.
Manual transport of parcels across the border represents one of the traditional methods of introducing cigarettes from Ukraine into Romania. In recent years, authorities have identified other operating methods: concealing cargo in cars or lorries with specially adapted compartments, using large drones or makeshift aircraft, as well as disguising cigarettes among other products or in spaces difficult to access with standard controls.
Source: Cotidianul.ro