Woman from Lviv region fined 255,000 UAH for hiding smartphones in clothing

Court ruling on undeclared gadgets

The Halychtskyi District Court of the city of Lviv concluded the review of case No. 461/5720/26, which concerns a violation of customs rules by Ruslana Hovda, a resident of the Lviv region. The court found the woman guilty of moving goods while concealing them from customs control and imposed a fine as punishment. However, the court did not confiscate the seized devices but returned them to the owner.

Circumstances of the incident at the border

The events unfolded on 13 June 2026 at the Krakovets customs post. Ruslana Hovda was crossing the state border in a Ford Focus, choosing the "red corridor" for passage. In her documents, she declared a humanitarian cargo — 24 bags of animal feed with a total weight of 480 kg. Only personal items were listed in the passenger customs declaration.

During the inspection, customs officers noticed that the driver might be hiding something under her clothes. It turned out that eight new iPhone 17 Pro Max smartphones in factory packaging were located under her jacket and inside ordinary tights (leggings). The devices were of different colours: Silver, Deep Blue, and Cosmic Orange, with storage capacities of 256 and 512 GB. At the inspectors' request, the woman herself took the gadgets out of the hiding place.

Valuation and admission of guilt

An expert valuation established the value of the eight undeclared flagship smartphones at 511,192.80 hryvnias. Ruslana Hovda, both personally and through her representative in court, fully admitted her guilt and confirmed the fact of concealing the phones from customs control.

Grounds for imposing the minimum fine

The court applied Part 1 of Article 483 of the Customs Code of Ukraine. Taking into account the social status of the offender — she is officially unemployed and has no permanent income, as well as the absence of aggravating circumstances, the court chose the least severe punishment provided for by this article. This refers to a fine of 50% of the value of the goods, which amounted to 255,596.40 hryvnias.

Return of smartphones to the owner

A key aspect of the ruling was the court's refusal to confiscate the smartphones. The court's reasoning was based on the need to maintain a fair balance between public interests and the right to property. All eight iPhone 17 Pro Max devices were ordered to be returned to Ruslana Hovda. She will be able to either properly clear them at customs or take them back out of Ukraine.

In addition, the offender was charged 219.86 hryvnias for storing the gadgets in the customs warehouse and 665.60 hryvnias in court fees.