According to Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Finance Committee, the car stopped by Customs officers, which was trying to import 829 units of Apple equipment into Ukraine, was carrying contraband goods for the Yabko chain.
According to Danylo Hetmantsev, the head of the Verkhovna Rada’s Finance Committee, the car stopped by Customs officers, which was trying to import 829 units of Apple equipment into Ukraine, was carrying contraband goods for the Yabko chain.
The State Customs Service reported today about the stopped car and the detected smugglers.
«829 units of Apple equipment were hidden under the floor of the bus. In particular, 501 Apple phones. Most of them were iPhone 17 Pro, 16 Pro Max, 16 Pro Max. In addition, „under the rug“ were 211 AirPods headphones and 117 Apple Watch smartwatches. The estimated value of the goods is UAH 35.5 million,» the Customs Service noted.
In turn, Hetmantsev stated that this case should be considered within the framework of a large criminal smuggling scheme.
«Is it a secret where such iPhones are sold „from under the floor“? The secret is so big that in the city center you will definitely come across advertisements for such networks several times. Moreover, you will also find stores with this product there,» the head of the financial committee noted.
According to him, Ukraine loses about UAH 20 billion annually on the smuggling of electronics, and half of this amount is on the smuggling of Apple products.
He called on the BEB leadership to restore order in the market and directly accused the Yabko chain of smuggling in this case, calling it a tiny batch from a large smuggling flow.
Hetmantsev also reminded about the Yabko network that «the entire chain of crime was documented over a year ago,» but in fact it is obvious that «the case was hushed up, and the network continues to work calmly, expands and waits for deliveries from such «stuffed cars.»
Earlier, the chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Finance Committee , Danylo Hetmantsev, shared details about the impact of smuggling expensive equipment into Ukraine and why cases do not reach court.
