Siberian customs officers opened 15 criminal cases against “forest” organized crime groups
Published: January 29, 2024 04:47
124 criminal cases have been opened by Siberian customs authorities on the facts of timber smuggling, violation of currency legislation requirements on repatriation of funds and legalization of illegal income in timber exports by the end of 2023.
Customs authorities of Siberia have opened criminal cases on the facts of timber smuggling, violation of currency legislation requirements on repatriation of funds and legalization of illegal income in timber exports
The Irkutsk (26 cases), Siberian Operative (22 cases), Altai (22 cases), Krasnoyarsk (21 cases) customs offices initiated the largest number of criminal cases related to timber export crimes.
The Irkutsk (26 cases), Siberian Operative (22 cases), Krasnoyarsk (21 cases) customs offices initiated the largest number of criminal cases related to timber export crimes
In 2023, the customs authorities of the region initiated 122 criminal cases on the facts of timber smuggling alone, including 15 criminal cases against members of organized criminal groups. Cases against organized criminal groups were initiated by the Siberian Operational and Irkutsk customs. In addition, more than 1.2 thousand cases on administrative offenses were initiated by the STU customs in preventing the illegal export of timber
It should be noted that in the course of urgent investigative actions in criminal cases, law enforcement officers of Siberian customs seized timber prepared for export abroad with a total volume of more than 537 cubic meters worth more than 5.2 million rubles. The illegal export of more than 12,000 cubic meters of timber was stopped by mobile groups of the Siberian Customs Directorate
“In 2023, the customs of the STU resisted the illegal export of both timber and other strategically important resources of our country,” said Deputy Head of the Siberian Customs Directorate – Head of the Siberian Operational Customs Alexei Yakovlev. – Thus, customs officers prevented the smuggling of black caviar of the sturgeon family weighing more than 260 kilograms with a market value of more than 16.4 million rubles, motor oil worth more than 6.1 million rubles, as well as 11 valuable derivatives, which are CITES objects”