Several border guards involved in cigarette trafficking to be investigated

Chisinau, January 31 / MOLDPRES /- The case of the seizure of 179 boxes of Ashima cigarettes in Cahul, with the involvement of Border Police employees, has been sent to court.

According to the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases, the cigarettes seized in this smuggling case would cost over 1.6 million lei, and on the European Union market - the intended destination of the criminal group - about 4.3 million lei. Therefore, the criminal income would have been about 2.7 million.

The July 2021 smuggling followed the documentation carried out by the Intelligence and Security Service, in collaboration with the Internal Protection and Anti-Corruption Service of the Ministry of Interior, jointly with the PCCOCS. In this case, more than 20 searches, more than 20 interceptions, about 50 interrogations of the suspects and accused were carried out.

In the criminal case sent to court by the PCCOCS prosecutors, there are 14 defendants, aged between 30 and 50 years. They are from Cahul and Chisinau, and three of them are border guards: a former interim chief of the Cahul border police sector of the General Inspectorate of Border Police, a former head of the South Regional Directorate of the Inspectorate, and a non-commissioned officer.

According to the legislation, the incriminated crime is punishable by imprisonment for a term of 4 to 10 years.