In the Zakarpattia region, border guards, along with the National Police and the SBU, uncovered a channel for the illegal transportation of draft-age men abroad using a cash-in-transit vehicle.
According to the State Border Guard Service, on the outskirts of the village of Janoshi, a cash-in-transit vehicle was stopped while attempting to leave the country. In a specially equipped armored capsule of a bank’s vehicle, two men were transporting a Ukrainian man of conscription age to the border with Hungary. According to law enforcement officials, the suspects, 42-year-old and 58-year-old bank employees from Lviv, were charging $16,500 for their services.
Preliminary investigation revealed that cash-in-transit officers transported the conscripted individual from Lviv to Berehove for $1,500, and were to receive an additional $15,000 for further delivery to the Hungarian border. Part of this amount had already been paid, with the rest to be paid only after a successful border crossing. The detention took place as part of criminal proceedings on suspicion of illegal transportation of persons across the border. The suspects are in temporary custody, and an investigation is underway.
This case is one of a series of high-profile exposures in Zakarpattia; in September, border guards were found selling information about safe routes to draft evaders. In November, the National Police detained a deputy from the Vinnytsia region over a fictitious marriage to avoid mobilization.
