Employees of the Baltic and North-West Operational Customs together with the Economic Security Service of the Russian Federal Security Service Directorate for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region prevented two cases of cocaine smuggling with a total weight of more than 100 kilograms.
In containers with bananas, which arrived by ship from Belgium to the port of St. Petersburg, customs officers found 100 identical briquettes in brown colored plastic film in the technological cavities of the refrigerator unit.
The study of the contents of the briquettes showed – the seized substance is a narcotic drug – cocaine.
According to these facts, the customs authorities of the North-West Federal Customs Service initiated two criminal cases under paragraph «b» part 4 of article 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (smuggling of drugs on a large scale).
At present the criminal cases have been transferred to the investigative departments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia on transport.
Reference: illegal transfer across the state border of the Russian Federation (customs border of the EAEU) of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their precursors (including in the form of medicines and biologically active supplements) can be qualified as a crime under Article 229.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (smuggling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, their precursors). This article provides for punishment up to life imprisonment with a fine of up to 1 million rubles or in the amount of the convicted person’s income for a period of up to 5 years.
Public Relations Department