Border guards stopped a catafalque with a 45-year-old priest of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate (UOC MP) at the wheel on the transit section of the Odesa-Reni road. So the priest tried to help a resident of the Luhansk region of call-up age to cross the border.
This was reported by the press service of the State Border Service of Ukraine (SBSU).
According to the plan, the priest was supposed to drive the man to the border so that he could enter Moldova illegally. And in order for the number of people in the catafalque to remain the same as on the way back, the driver hid the 10-year-old son of his fellow villager in the catafalque under buckets, tires and a blanket. On the way back, the priest had to seat the boy next to him so that it would not be recorded that there were fewer passengers than indicated in the documents.
However, the border guards exposed the intentions of the church minister. He faces from three to five years in prison under Article 332 of the Criminal Code on the illegal diversion of people across the state border of Ukraine.
At the same time, a passenger who attempts to illegally cross the Ukrainian border faces a fine of 3 400 to 13 600 hryvnias or arrest for up to fifteen days. The police returned the child to his parents.