Nizhniy Tagil customs file 6 smuggling-related criminal suits in January-May 2007

The officers of Yekaterinburg Customs Inquest Department filed two criminal suits related to smuggling of foreign cars, reports the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration. The officers’ inquiry revealed that two German cars (one BMW X5 made in 2003 and one Mercedes-Benz ML 270 CDI) were smuggled across the Russian frontier with the help of number plates and registration certificates that had been issued in Byelorussia but were not meant for the cars in question. After a query had been sent to Byelorussia, the officers found out that the documents were issued for a completely different

So far this year, the officers of Nizhniy Tagil-based Customs have filed 6 criminal suits related to smuggling of cars and 304 administrative suits against various types of offenders; this has already resulted in over 8.5 million RUR worth of fines. The total cost of automobiles and other vehicles that the accused meant to have smuggled is estimated at 3.808 million RUR. In the meantime, the Customs’ investigative forces whose job is to fight and prevent economic crimes conducted 129 special inspections (including 17 inspections that were done with the support of other law-enforcement

Ural Customs Administration filed 115 administrative suits regarding illegal currency transactions, inaccurate declaration of currency, or failing to declare it altogether and 1 criminal suit regarding a case of smuggling in January-March 2007. The total value of illegally handled currency comes to more than $812,000. Last year, Ural customs officers revealed about 400 instances of currency offenses in the course of checking people traveling abroad, which resulted in 391 administrative suits regarding illegal currency transactions (36 cases) inaccurate declaration of currency or failing to

Nizhniy Tagil public prosecution authorities for transportation, Nizhniy Tagil Customs Internal Security Department, and the Economic Offense Division of the local Internal Affairs Department disclosed an instance of smuggling at railway station Nizhniy Tagil: a group of offenders, one of whom was a state customs inspector at Nizhniy Tagil Customs, had seven automobiles illegally imported from the U.S. The inquiry revealed that the cars arrived in Nizhniy Tagil in a number of containers, with an assumed name given for the addressees, which made it possible to apply simpler customs clearance

Koltsovo airport customs officers averted an attempt of smuggling currency to Germany at the airport’s international terminal, where one of the passengers with a ticket for Yekaterinburg-Munich flight chose not to declare a large sum of foreign currency when using the ‘green light’, says the spokesperson for Ural Customs Administration. The random check procedure made it clear that the passenger had ?10,870 and 10,000 RUR on him, which is against the existing law. The customs officers filed a criminal suit against the offender, accusing him of smuggling.