They tried to transport almost ton of contraband to Ukraine by bus. When it was discovered, drivers almost ran away with belongings of passengers. VIDEO&PHOTOS
The drivers of a bus from Izmir to Kharkiv operated by Nicholas-TransAuto LLC tried to smuggle 900 kg of illegal cargo into Ukraine. When border guards demanded that they pay a duty of $1,800-$2,000, the drivers almost escaped with the passengers’ belongings and documents.
This was reported to Censor.NET by a bus passenger.
She says that from the very beginning of the trip, the bus was constantly late: in Sofia by 3.5 hours, in Bucharest by 7 hours, in Suceava by 10 hours - passengers were waiting for it at the cold station.
At the Porubne border crossing point, border guards found 900 kg of goods on the drivers' vehicles.
"The border guards forbade them to import the goods into Ukraine without paying a customs tax of $1,800-$2,000, but the drivers did not have this money on them, and they offered to unload the goods in Bucharest. The driver tried to go to Bucharest without passengers, although many of them left documents, equipment, etc. in the bus, i.e. hand luggage. Then return to our border and take us to the cities on the route. Of course, they were not going to say anything to the passengers waiting at the checkpoint," said the passenger.
The drivers refused to throw away the goods or get rid of them at the border in order to continue the journey after the curfew, which angered all the passengers.
"There are 40 people on the bus, some small children, some elderly people and 2 women with facial disabilities, who, by the way, waited for 10 hours for this bus at a gas station in front of the Romanian border. Customs officers forbade us to shoot any video of their faces, the carrier Nicholas did not respond to any of our calls and messages, we also sent them photos and videos," says the passenger.
Several officers called the police, but she was not allowed to enter the border, and had to communicate with law enforcement officers by phone.
"As the police explained, this situation does not fall within their spectrum of the legal and judicial code, the only thing they advised was to write a statement and complaint to the court at the place of residence. In this situation, we, as citizens of our country, could not get support or protection from the border guard and customs service, the police, or the carrier to whom we all paid for the tickets," says the passenger.
At the same time, the owner of the bus claims that the company had nothing to do with it, and that the drivers transported the cargo on their own initiative. Instead of full compensation for the cost of the trip, he offered a 50% discount on the next trip and added that since the bus was Turkish, the passengers "couldn't do anything".
