ROSTOV-ON-DON, June 8 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian trying to smuggle about two metric tons of onions into Ukraine through a river on the border in southern Russia has been detained, customs officials said Thursday.
The man now faces a maximum fine of three times the cost of onions, or 60,000 rubles ($2,230), for "the illegal movement of goods and/or vehicles through the customs border of the Russian Federation."
The offender was wading through the Bolshaya Kamenka River on the Russian-Ukrainian border carrying the sacks of onions but was detained a few kilometers from a Ukrainian customs checkpoint.
This is not the only case of food smuggling into Ukraine in the Rostov Region. In late May, a young couple was detained for carrying 700 kilograms (1,500lb) of salo, a popular Ukrainian food similar to fatback, in a car without any documents.
