MINSK, 22 September (BelTA) – Belarusian customs officers thwarted 50 attempts to import drugs, including two attempts to important 348kg of hashish, in 2017, Chairman of the State Customs Committee Yuri Senko told reporters after his report to Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 22 September, BelTA has learned.
“This year the Belarusian customs service has thwarted 50 attempts to move drugs through our border in the direction of Belarus and Russia,” the chairman of the State Customs Committee said.
During the working meeting the head of state focused on the efforts to prevent the transportation of forbidden goods though the Belarusian border. “Let's speak about the transportation of extremely hazardous products, for example, psychotropic substances, drugs, weapons, radioactive substances. How do we cooperate with our western partners in this field?” the Belarusian leader asked. “We stop it here, catch criminals. How do our partners respond to it? Do they see our role in this process?”
“We have opened 163 criminal cases, including 50 cases concerning drugs and psychotropic substances. The head of state paid attention to this problem. Indeed, this is a very serious problem for our country, neighboring states. In particular, for the Russian Federation. I informed the president that in January-March 2017 the customs service detected two big attempts to move hashish from the territory of Poland through our border,” Yuri Senko told reporters.
In the first case, 278kg of hashish was hidden in a freight vehicle. In the second case, 70kg of hashish was carried by a passenger car in March.
The chairman of the State Customs Committee remarked that in January-August 2017 the Belarusian customs service detected 20,400 administrative violations. This number is violations fell from the same period of 2016. “As for the cost of objects, it increased by $700,000,” he said.
