Ukraine Border Guards Uncover Illegal Booze-Smuggling Pipe

You can accuse Eastern Europe’s smugglers of many things — crime, corruption, promoting drug addiction, etc. What’s one thing you can’t accuse them of? A lack of creativity.

Photo credit: dpsu.gov.ua

Today, Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service made a surprising discovery: an illegal “pipeline” crossing through the Kuchurgan Reservoir from Moldova into Ukraine’s Odesa region. The authorities believe its purpose was to illegally smuggle alcohol between the two countries.

“With its help, the lawbreakers were probably planning to illegally move spirits from Moldova into Ukraine,” the State Border Service said in a message.

Law enforcement sleuths have established that the pipe — 32 millimeters in diameter, 540 meters long, and actually closer to a hose — was installed recently and had not yet been used “because it didn’t smell of alcohol.”  

With the help of a frontier boat, the border officers were able to dismantle the half of the pipe on Ukrainian territory.

Ukrainian border guards’ near immediate conclusion that the cross-border pipeline was destined for booze smuggling likely comes from experience. In June 2016, the authorities dug up a similar pipe from Moldova.