Belarus’ State Customs Committee commented on reports of mass searches of passenger cars at the Belarusian-Russian border. The agency said that, in one of the cases previously reported by human rights defenders, hashish was found in a driver’s possession and a criminal case was opened against him.
According to the State Customs Committee, on July 31, during special operations at the Belarusian-Russian border, officers from the Vitsyebsk Customs Office stopped a Volkswagen travelling from Russia. A service dog alerted officers to the vehicle. The car was carrying the driver and two passengers.
The agency said that during the customs inspection, officers found hashish among the personal belongings of the 40-year-old driver. Drug paraphernalia was also allegedly found in the possession of one of the passengers.
A criminal case has been opened against the driver under Part 1 of Article 328-1 of the Criminal Code. He has been detained.
“While acting on operational information about the possible transportation of narcotics, customs officers selectively stopped several passenger cars that day, but no customs inspections were carried out on those vehicles,” the State Customs Committee said.
The statement followed reports of mass inspections of passenger cars on the M1 highway at the Belarusian-Russian border.
In particular, on Aug. 3, Mayday.team reported that customs officers were stopping vehicles with Belarusian registration plates and conducting thorough searches of passengers’ belongings, while also noting increased controls in the area.
“Last Friday, drivers travelling from Moscow to Minsk along the main M1 highway (Krasnaya Gorka border crossing) witnessed an unprecedented scene: on the Belarusian side, about half a kilometre from the Russian border checkpoint, around half a dozen passenger cars had been stopped, with all of their contents laid out on the grass by the roadside. Customs officers were literally emptying the personal belongings of passengers travelling in cars with Belarusian registration plates,” the report said.
Commenting on the reports, the State Customs Committee said that one of the inspections described had been related to the discovery of hashish and included a link to a publication by the Mayday.team Telegram channel, which has been designated as “extremist” by the Belarusian authorities.
It should be recalled that in Belarus, extremism-related accusations are used to prosecute opponents of Aliaksandr Lukashenka and suppress dissent more broadly.
