Just in: Ukraine is troubled by a smuggled Stradivarius

Ukrainian news sites are carying the following story:

On the Ukrainian-Moldovan border, law enforcement officers found an old violin, which was attempted to be transported out of Ukraine.

As UNIAN was told in the Belgorod-Dnestrovsky border unit of the State Border Guard Service, the attempt to export a violin by the famous Italian master Antonio Stradivari from Ukraine was blocked. According to the border guards, we are talking about a musical instrument that was made in 1730.

The violin, which was in the bag, was found during the border and customs control at the Palanka-Mayaki-Udobnoe checkpoint in the passenger compartment of the regular bus.

“However, as it turned out, the world-famous item allegedly has no owner. Only two foreign drivers and a flight attendant were in the vehicle. They explained that the violin was a delivery that was not received by the addressee on the territory of Ukraine,” the border guards said.

It is noted that Antonio Stradivari created almost 2.5 thousand unique instruments, but only about 650 of them have survived to this day.

“Therefore, the “queen of the orchestra” was seized and handed over for expert examination,” the border guards say.

The press service of the Odessa customs specified that they had already identified the person who was carrying the violin. “An antique instrument was tried to be taken out by a citizen of Ukraine, who was on a regular bus to Moldova. A case with a musical instrument and a bow was found among the personal belongings of a passenger,” the customs officers said. They say that on the inside of the bottom of the violin is a label that says: “ANTONIUS STRADIUARIUS CREMONENFIS FACIЕBAT ANNО 1730”.