Officers of Russia’s North-Western Operational Customs seized a large consignment of unmarked tobacco products in St Petersburg. Its total value is estimated at 79 million Russian rubles (about $912,000), the press service of the North-Western Customs Administration said.
The products were found at three warehouses in the city’s Central, Frunzensky and Kirovsky districts. They included 437,000 packs of cigarettes manufactured in Belarus and the United Arab Emirates.
At one of the premises, customs officers also found about 9,000 Chinese-made electronic cigarettes, 17,000 bottles of liquid for refilling them and 2,000 packs of chewing tobacco from Sweden.
Authorities are considering opening a criminal case under the article on storing goods and products without mandatory labeling on an especially large scale. The maximum penalty is six years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million Russian rubles.
The inspection materials have been handed over to the regional department of Russia’s Interior Ministry.
