Four Ukrainian army officers escorting the remains of a soldier home from Iraq were caught at the Kiev airport with 300,000 dollars and accused of smuggling, the Ministry of Defense said Friday. Customs authorities at Boryspil airport confiscated the undeclared cash from the four officers. The officers had stashed the cash on their persons. A military court would hear the case, the statement said. Ukraine maintains a 1,550-member infantry brigade in Iraq's Wasit province. The last major international smuggling incident connected with Ukrainian troops took place in the late 1990s when NATO authorities busted a ring of Ukrainian soldiers and officers using combat vehicles to smuggle cigarettes and other contraband in Bosnia. A smaller group of Ukrainians serving in Africa took advantage of a law allowing soldiers stationed abroad to bring a single automobile back home duty free, and imported vehicles worth more than one million dollars last year before police caught them.
