The strip of fat taken from the back of a pig is popular in Ukraine when eaten with bread and garlic, or added to the national soup borshch and many others dishes, including potatoes.
Many people in the former Soviet Union try to bring homegrown food to relatives now living across post-Soviet national borders, but the Ukrainian service said officers had seen a sharp increase in salo smuggling since the start of the year that had already led to the confiscation of about two tons of the "strategic product" since January.
In the third incident on the border with Russia in the eastern region of Luhansk this year, a young couple was stopped for carrying 700 kilograms (1,500lb) of salo and 36kg (80lb) of melted pig fat in a car from Russia's Rostov-on-Don without any documents.
Both the car and the considerable cargo were impounded.
