Photo: Alexander Kryazhev / RIA Novosti
Two companies from Khabarovsk smuggled timber worth 3.2 billion rubles to China. This conclusion was reached by the Federal Customs Service together with colleagues from Khabarovsk, according to a statement on the agency’s website.
From June 2015 to September 2019, these companies provided customs officials with false documents with an underestimated value of timber. As a result of their activities, 708 thousand cubic meters of timber were smuggled to China.
The Cabinet of Ministers approved duties of 10% on the export of roughly processed timber
Customs officers opened five criminal cases under part 3 of article 226.1 of the Criminal Code (illegal movement of strategically important resources across the customs border). Under this article, violators of the law face punishment in the form of imprisonment for a term of 7 to 12 years and a fine of up to 1 million rubles. Searches were carried out in the offices of the suspects, the operatives seized equipment that contains information about the activities of the companies.
In just 8 months of 2021, the customs operational units, independently and in cooperation with other law enforcement agencies, prevented the smuggling of forestry products in the amount of about 20 thousand cubic meters worth almost 250 million rubles, according to a statement on the website of the customs service.
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