Officials of the Customs Department of the State Revenue Service (SRS), while conducting customs control on Latvia’s border with Russia, prevented an attempt to illegally import cigarettes, which were hidden in the structure of a truck trailer. There were 1071 packs of cigarettes in the hiding place.
On April 23, 2024, an empty vehicle driven by a citizen of the Republic of Belarus entered the Terekhovo customs control point from the Russian side. In the notification of the movement of excise goods, he indicated only the diesel fuel in the tank, and when asked by the customs officials whether undeclared excise goods were being moved, he answered in the negative. However, during a visual inspection of the cargo compartment, the customs officers discovered the hiding place of contraband.
During the in-depth inspection, customs officials found that seventeen aluminum liners on the sides of the cargo compartment were filled with cigarettes. As a result of the control, 21,420 “Minsk” cigarettes, or 1,071 packs of cigarettes with excise tax stamps of the Republic of Belarus, were seized.
When signs of a criminal offense were detected during customs control, the case materials were handed over to the Tax and Customs Police Department of the SRS for a decision on the initiation of criminal proceedings.
In the first quarter of 2024, as a result of the control measures carried out by the SRS Customs Administration, 3.46 million cigarettes were detected, which, after being hidden from the customs control, were tried to be imported into Latvia.
State Revenue Service
Tags: Contraband cigarettes discovered structure cargo compartment vehicle Criminal news
