Customs officers have stopped the activities of an organized crime group smuggling tons of Far Eastern trepang to China

Sheremetyevo customs officers together with the Main Department for Combating Smuggling of the Federal Customs Service of Russia have blocked a channel for smuggling Far Eastern trepang to China. 14 criminal cases were opened (part 2 of article 226.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), more than 10 tons of sea delicacy worth more than 100 million rubles were seized from illegal circulation

Customs officers found that the organized criminal group consisted of two Chinese citizens and three Russians. The criminals operated in the Central and Far Eastern Federal Districts, where they bought trepang and then sent the goods to China by mail. They used couriers to deliver the illegal cargo

Vehicles were seized, which were used by the defendants to move the illegally extracted strategically important resource to the place of its processing and storage.

The criminal cases were merged into a separate proceeding, which ended with an indictment against five defendants under Part 3 of Article 226.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (smuggling of strategically important resources, committed by an organized group). They face up to 12 years in prison with a fine of up to 1 million rubles