Belarusian customs officers have intercepted goods worth 30 million Belarusian rubles on the border with Russia since the beginning of the year. Siarhei Parfionau, head of the Main Directorate for Combating Smuggling at the State Customs Committee, announced the figure in an interview with CTV.
According to him, the figure relates to goods imported from Russia in violation of the law.
“There is no customs border or customs clearance on the Belarusian-Russian section of the border. At the same time, customs authorities, in order to prevent the export of certain categories of goods that could become scarce in our country, to stop attempts to import goods moved in violation of the legislation of the Republic of Belarus and the EAEU, and to prevent the import of goods that have not undergone customs clearance, carry out, together with authorised agencies, a range of measures aimed specifically at protecting our country’s domestic market,” he said.
Parfionau said that around 500 special operations had been conducted this year, resulting in the detection of more than 250 administrative offences. Half of those operations were carried out on the Belarusian-Russian border.
“It should be noted that half of the special operations carried out took place on the Russian-Belarusian section of the border. The value of the goods involved in the detected offences exceeded 30 million rubles. It should also be noted that 95% of that amount involved imports under the so-called grey import scheme.
To clarify, the grey import scheme involves the illegal import of goods from both the EU and other EAEU member states disguised as different goods that are legally declared in shipping documents; the import of goods without shipping documents, using invalid details or false information about recipients and senders; or using individuals who transport these categories of goods under the guise of personal-use items in exchange for payment. Most importantly, it involves importing goods without customs declaration and without paying the required customs duties,” he added.
