MINSK, 5 May (BelTA) – Officers of the customs service, who stopped the largest batch of explosives in the history of Belarus from being smuggled into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union, have revealed details of how the dangerous cargo had been detected, BelTA has learned.
On 5 May Dmitry Volchkovich, a senior inspector of the Customs Control Operations Department of the Brest Customs, and Darya Savich, a senior inspector of Customs Operations and Control Department No.1 of the customs post Varshavsky Most of the Brest Customs, were awarded Medals for Excellence in the State Border Protection. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko presented the awards to them in a solemn ceremony held at the Palace of Independence. In accordance with the official documents they received the medals in recognition of their special merits in protecting the state border, high professionalism, courage and determination in the fight against smuggling and administrative customs offenses.
The fact that the young customs service officers directly participated in stopping the largest batch of explosives in the history of Belarus from being smuggled into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union represents a convincing argument in favor of awarding them. According to Darya Savich, 2 April was just another working day for her. Another vehicle moved into the border crossing Brest at about 17:00. “The driver gave me the accompanying papers. We started clearing them. As we were working and analyzing the situation, several indicators of the risk management system were triggered. We had our doubts. This is why we started taking a closer look at this vehicle,” the officer of the State Customs Committee explained.
She explained that all the customs service personnel study and know indicators of the risk management system. These indicators are used to evaluate suspicions regarding a vehicle, its driver, the cargo, and so on. The personnel did not reveal the details. “This is confidential information. We cannot talk about it,” Darya Savich clarified.
Upon her decision the vehicle was submitted to a thorough inspection in a mobile inspection unit. A scanning image revealed unusual shades in the floor of the vehicle as well as in the wall that separates the cargo compartment and the passenger compartment. According to Dmitry Volchkovich, during the thorough examination parts of the floor and the wall were dismantled to reveal a lot of light yellow substance and light grey substance. The substance looked suspicious but the customs service officers did not know how dangerous it is and how much of it the vehicle holds. Later on it turned out that the vehicle contained nearly 600kg of a particularly powerful explosive substance.
Dmitry Volchkovich and Darya Savich have joined the customs service only recently (one year ago and two years ago respectively). Finding such a large batch was a special occasion for them. They had already encountered various kinds of administrative offences on a much lower scale. How important was the human factor in the attempt to smuggle the large batch of explosives if the explosive was found using special equipment?
“I decided to submit the vehicle for a thorough inspection. Only after that the vehicle was scanned. Otherwise, it could have crossed the border,” Darya Savich explained. She remarked that she and her colleague had just done their jobs like on any other day. But certainly, it was particularly pleasant and appreciable to recognize their role and to receive state awards. According to Darya Savich, vigilance, attention, and honesty are the three qualities a customs service officer is supposed to have.
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