Lithuanian customs reports increase in Ukrainian currency flow across Belarusian border

January 23, BPN. Travelers have been making attempts to bring large amounts of Ukrainian hryvnias into Lithuania from Belarus over some three months, the Lithuanian finance ministry’s customs department said on January 21.

For that reason, customs officials tightened controls over cash imports. There have been at least six attempts to import hryvnias since November.

A total of about 44 million hryvnias (about €1.1 million) was detained at the Lithuanian-Belarusian border in this timeframe. Ukrainian currency is usually transported by Belarusian citizens, but Lithuanians and Poles have also been noticed carrying it.

Officials suspect that the hryvnias were “seized” during the war in Ukraine, and that people wanted to legalize them by converting them into other currencies in the EU.

“If we have doubts that transportation is legal, we detain hryvnias to clarify their origin. In some cases, we initiate pre-trial probes for alleged smuggling,” it said. Four such cases have been opened.

“On January 13, customs officers at the Raigardas checkpoint inspected a bus with a trailer entering from Belarus, and detained 5.13 million hryvnias. Almost all passengers carrying them were Belarusian citizens and apparently had nothing to do with Ukraine. They gave different explanations as to where they got the hryvnias,” the customs department said, specifying that the money was carried by a group of 18 people.