Two Ukrainian women have been charged with illegally transporting nearly 12kg of gold, worth €544,600, Bulgarian National Radio reported on Monday. The case was opened after dozens of packages of 14-karat jewelry were found taped to their bodies under their clothing.
While the women had told border security at the Lesnoye checkpoint that they had nothing to declare, a search by Bulgarian authorities soon revealed a total of 30 packages – 15 on each woman – wrapped in duct tape and secured with elastic underwear.
The pair were traveling from Türkiye to Ukraine via Bulgaria on Thursday in a bus when they were stopped and searched at the border. The Yambol district prosecutor’s office held them for up to 72 hours, the radio station said.
Two Ukrainian diplomats were recalled and dismissed from their posts last year after they were arrested with 16kg of gold at the Polish border, along with over €188,000 in dollars, euros and zlotys and over 8,000 packs of cigarettes, worth more than €47,600.
More recently, Anastasia Kotvitska, the wife of a former Ukrainian MP, was charged in March with failure to declare nearly €28.2 million in cash – $28 million in dollars and €1.3 million in euros – as she attempted to cross the border into Hungary.