More Than 20 Tonnes of Salmon Backbones Smuggled Into Russia From Belarus as “Chicken”

Smolensk customs intercepted 20.8 tonnes of fish products illegally imported from Belarus.

A truck was stopped near the village of Krasnaya Gorka. Although the driver presented documents for transporting chicken fillet from Belarus to Russia, Russian customs officers instead found 20.8 tonnes of salmon backbones. The load had no accompanying paperwork, including no veterinary certificate. The shipment is valued at 5.1 million Russian rubles (USD 66,000).

Customs chief Nikolai Novikov stated that “the illegally transported goods fall under the category of strategically important resources, and their value exceeded 5.1 million rubles. Smolensk customs has opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 226.1 of the Russian Criminal Code.”

The case has been forwarded to court. The article carries a penalty of up to five years in prison, the Central Customs Directorate of Russia’s Federal Customs Service reports.