Attempt to Import Clothing and Footwear Under the Guise of Medical Masks Revealed

The Eastern Customs Office of the State Revenue Committee has uncovered several instances of customs violations as a result of systematic monitoring. Attempts were made to import clothing and footwear into the republic instead of medical masks, thereby avoiding paying the higher taxes and duties set for these products.

This information was reported by the State Revenue Committee. Recently, a vehicle registered in the Kyrgyz Republic was inspected at the Bagratashen customs checkpoint using "Rapiskan" X-ray equipment. The truck was transporting goods addressed to two companies operating in Armenia from an entity registered in Russia. Suspicion arose that the truck might contain undeclared or misdeclared goods, and the vehicle was accompanied for thorough inspection purposes.

As a result, it was revealed that the goods addressed to one of the companies did not correspond to what was specified in the declaration. Specifically, around 14 tons of various types of medical masks were declared, whereas more than 10 tons of new clothing, 600 kg of footwear, 18 kg of rubber gloves, and around 2 tons of medical masks were actually present in the vehicle.

On the same day, another truck registered in Kyrgyzstan was scrutinized upon its arrival at the Bagratashen customs checkpoint, carrying a load addressed to the same company. In this instance, instead of the declared approximately 12 tons of various types of medical masks, attempts were made to import about 3.5 tons of actual masks alongside more than 7 tons of new clothing and around 500 kg of footwear.

Days later, at the Bagratashen customs checkpoint, another vehicle operating under a similar scheme was inspected, which was transporting goods addressed to two different companies. General oversight revealed that approximately 11 tons of various types of medical masks and 460 kg of medical footwear were declared, yet the inspection uncovered that about 6.5 tons of new clothing, 150 kg of footwear, and more than 4 tons of masks were actually present in the truck.

Information regarding these cases has been forwarded to the Investigation and Operational Intelligence Department of the SRC for the preparation of materials.