From April 1 to April 4, 2022, border guards seized more than 90,000 smuggled cigarettes in Augšdaugava and Krāslava counties, two persons were detained.
On Friday, April 1, 2022 during the inspection of information on the illegal movement of cigarettes across the Belarusian - Latvian state border, officials of the Daugavpils Board of the State Border Guard detained two citizens of Republic of Latvia in Naujiene Parish Augšdaugava County, one of whom was dressed in a diving suit; mentioned persons pulled out three rectangular boxes of smuggled cigarettes packed in a black polyethylene film from the Daugava River. Border Guards found 30,000 “Queen Super Slim” cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps in them.
In turn, during an inspection of the place of residence of one of the detainee’s the border guards found 300 „NZ Gold” cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps. Administrative proceedings have been initiated for storage of tobacco products that are not marked with the excise duty stamps of the Republic of Latvia.
Criminal proceedings have been initiated in accordance to the Section 191 (3) of the Criminal Law of the Republic of Latvia has been forwarded to the Rezekne court, for storage, movement, forwarding or disposal of the goods or other valuable property subject to customs clearance in the customs territory of the Republic of Latvia without the permission of the customs authorities, if it has been committed on a large scale. An investigating judge of the Rezekne court has imposed a security measure on persons - detention.
On Monday, April 4, 2022, the officers of the Daugavpils Board of the State Border Guard of Republic of Latvia found a raft in the Karsava County on the Daugava River, which has crossed the state border while floating along the river. During the inspection, the border guards found out that the raft consisted of four interconnected boxes wrapped in white polyethylene film. 60,000 “NZ Gold” cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps were in them.
Accordingly, criminal proceedings have been initiated for smuggling to a large extent in line with Section 190 (3) of the Criminal Law.