Smuggling chain worth three million lei dismantled in Moldova

The investigation officers from the General Inspectorate of the Border Police, in coordination with the Territorial Prosecutor’s Office Ștefan Vodă, broken down a smuggling chain with spare parts and car accessories. They reached the territory of the Republic of Moldova in Ukraine, bypassing the state border crossing points. 

According to the research, the members of the cross-border group were Moldovan and Ukrainian citizens, who acted according to a well-defined scheme. They were passing lots of goods across the Moldovan-Ukrainian border, using special means to hide the traces. They later transported the goods to several makeshift clandestine warehouses in the center of the republic. After which they were traded wholesale on the domestic market of the Republic of Moldova. Involved in these crimes are three compatriots and a Ukrainian between the ages of 40 and 50. 

Within the authorized measures, carried out by prosecutors jointly with the Border Police officers, spare parts and car accessories worth an estimated three million lei were found and seized. Joint prosecutions are currently underway with the relevant Ukrainian authorities to establish the entire criminal network.

At the same time, the investigation officers are also verifying the version of the involvement of some officials in the scheme, which facilitated the unhindered passage and transportation inside the country of these imposing volumes of fraudulent goods. The case is in the exercise of the territorial prosecutor’s office and is being investigated in the aspect of the crime of smuggling in particularly large proportions, for which the criminal law provides for imprisonment from 4 to 10 years.