SBU and SBI conduct large-scale searches at customs in eight regions of Ukraine

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI), together with the Prosecutor Generalʼs Office (PGO), are conducting a large-scale special operation.

This was reported in the press service of the SBU.

Currently, searches are ongoing in the Central Office of the State Customs Service and Volyn, Zhytomyr, Lviv, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Odesa, Kyiv, Rivne and Transcarpathia regional customs.

Law enforcement officers have already established 50 organizations that helped customs officers in shadow schemes. Their activities were blocked. At present, work on the elimination of smuggling schemes is ongoing at certain sections of the border and at checkpoints.

The Security Service promised to provide more detailed information about violations at the customs after the completion of primary investigative actions.

• On February 1, the Cabinet of Ministers dismissed the leadership of the State Customs Service. The acting head Vyacheslav Demchenko was dismissed from his post. His deputy Oleksandr Shchutskyi was also dismissed. In addition, customs instituted disciplinary proceedings against another deputy, Ruslan Cherkaskyi. He was suspended from his post for the period of the investigation.