| Intelligence agencies uncovered an international criminal group of shuttle traders The Moscow Prosecutor's Office, and after it the Prosecutor General's Office, yesterday solemnly announced the exposure in Moscow of “an international criminal group involved in the smuggling of consumer goods through Vnukovo Airport.” As a result of this operation, carried out by officers of the FSB of the Russian Federation, Organized Crime Control Department and riot police, 21 people were detained. Among them, as reported, were the organizers of the criminal group, including two Turkish citizens, and two customs inspectors who ensured the passage of smuggled cargo across the border. Investigators assessed the actions of the detainees under Art. 188-4 - smuggling committed by an organized group.
Meanwhile, yesterday it turned out that in fact the special services exposed ordinary shuttle traders who transported knitwear and underwear from Turkey to the Izmailovsky and Cherkizovsky markets. And they acted in the most primitive way, in which almost all Russian markets and a significant part of stores are supplied - they transported goods in bales, supposedly with things for personal use. And it was precisely because the operatives detained the entire group of carriers that the “organized criminal group” turned out to be so numerous. Why the special services decided to deal so harshly with harmless shuttles is not yet clear. Until now, when caught with “extra-limit clothes,” they, as a rule, were punished only administratively - with fines or confiscation of goods, which, moreover, the owners could legally return to themselves by paying a duty.
As it turned out, this time the operation was carefully prepared. A criminal case was opened on April 21, and the “smugglers” themselves were detained on the night of April 23. As soon as the charter flight from Istanbul landed, all entrances and exits of the airport were blocked by riot police, and the shuttles were detained when leaving the airport. The goods were seized and delivered on two trucks to the police department. According to preliminary estimates, the amount seized was about 10 million rubles. At the same time, searches were carried out both in the warehouses of the Cherkizovsky market, where the goods were supposed to arrive, and in the office of the TGK Izmailovo company, registered, as it later turned out, in the name of a 35-year-old Turkish citizen.
The shuttles, as it turned out, came to the attention of the special services at the end of December 2005. Thus, the investigation established that the suspects traveled abroad twice a week. The items of “smuggling” were mainly the most primitive things - towels, handkerchiefs, T-shirts, panties, underpants, hosiery. The criminals carried it all simply and openly - each carried several bales with a total weight of 100 kg.
According to the Prosecutor General's Office, in order to freely pass customs control, the suspects entered into a conspiracy with the chief customs inspectors of the Federal Customs Service Dmitry Ermakov and Alexey Sidorov, who worked in Vnukovo. As the prosecutor's office said, “in order to freely move cargo, information about the goods was deliberately distorted, in particular, the weight, quantity and total value were reduced, and the inspectors, knowing this, never searched the bales.”
In total, as a result of the special operation, about 60 people were detained, almost all of them were visitors from Ukraine, Tajikistan, etc. However, yesterday 40 of them were released, as a source close to the investigation explained, for lack of evidence. The remaining 20 suspects, after the first interrogations, were taken to the Zamoskvoretsky District Court to select a preventive measure. However, at the time of signing the number, the court approved the arrest warrant for only two customs officers.
It was not possible to find representatives of the detainees yesterday, and therefore we asked lawyer Yuri Kostanov, who dealt with the cases of citizens who found themselves in similar situations while passing customs control, to comment on the situation. “In this case, there is no crime under the article smuggling,” said Mr. Kostanov. - The shuttle operators did not hide their goods, but simply did not declare the excess cargo on time. Accordingly, according to the law, they could be charged an additional payment or punished administratively, but no criminal case could be opened. However, such rules apply only in civilized countries. Our country has inhumane laws. Even if there is no evidence of a crime, they will find it. And in this case, it is necessary to punish only customs officers who allowed the cargo to pass through, thereby exceeding their direct official duties.” Ekaterina KARACHEVA, Alexey GRISHIN |
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