Customs officers prevent smuggling of TV sets, radiators worth $790,000

Uzbek customs officers spoke about a fraudulent scheme of bringing televisions into the country, Kun.uz correspondent reports.

“In the course of checking documents provided by a truck driver who was a citizen of neighboring republic and arrived in the country through the customs post “Yallama” in Tashkent region, some inaccuracies were identified. It turned out that the invoices for goods, which were in transit through the territory of the republic, provided upon entry and exit were different,” the SCC reported.

In particular, according to the invoice provided to the customs authorities upon entry to our republic, such goods as 2482 TV sets and 200 radiators for a total amount of $17,000 should have been in the truck.

At the same time, according to the invoice for exit from our republic, the number of these radiators turned out to be 100 units less. Instead of TVs, items such as consumables for producing ceramic dishes, soft inventory and protective covers made of textile fibers were recorded.

After inspections, it turned out that 2680 TV sets in 4 types were attempted to be brought into the country. Total amount of goods found, according to preliminary estimates, amounted to 3,8 billion soums (nearly $790,000).

“According to the plan of the criminal gang, these TV sets were allegedly transported through the territory of our republic in transit. In fact, they were intended to be offloaded in Uzbekistan, and the truck should have been filled with a completely different product before leaving the country,” the SCC noted. 

After the illegal cargo was detained, the criminal group attempted to convince customs officers by offering a bribe in the amount of $9,000.

Currently, a case has been initiated on this fact under several Articles of the Criminal Code of Uzbekistan. Operational measures are underway to expose the remaining members of the criminal gang.