Customs Clearance of Truck That Exploded on Crimea Bridge

The Press Office of the State Revenue Committee (SRC) has provided details related to certain media publications regarding the explosion that occurred on the Crimean Bridge.

“Below is a detailed description of the process of importing goods by the company ‘Gu Ar Ji Group’ LLC and subsequently transferring them to Russia under a transit customs declaration.

It should be noted that on September 26, 2022, a truck carrying goods from the Bulgarian company ‘BALTEX CAPITAL S.A.’ was shipped at the port of Poti, Georgia, under the name of ‘Gu Ar Ji Group’ LLC (REH 06962573). This truck, which was covered with a tarpaulin and had 22 places weighing a total of 22,770 kg, entered Armenian territory on September 27, 2022, at 14:53.

The driver of the truck was Arthur Terjanyan, a citizen of Armenia and Georgia. According to established procedures, the truck was weighed at the Bagratashen customs post at 15:00 on September 27, and it subsequently underwent an X-ray inspection. No risky factors were detected during the X-ray examination. After that, at 16:53, the goods were declared under transit declaration number 05100033/270922/0049515 in the name of ‘Gu Ar Ji Group’ LLC (REH 06962573), in accordance with the data of the transport document and the import invoice.

For further formalities, the Ararat Customs Office was chosen, the temporary storage warehouse of ‘Alliance Terminal’ LLC. Upon exiting the customs area, at 17:00, the appropriate exit entry was made in the Border Cross system. The vehicle reached the temporary storage warehouse of ‘Alliance Terminal’ LLC at 22:46 after a delay of 5 hours and 46 minutes.

On September 28, 2022, at 09:43, the transit declaration 05100033/270922/0049515 received a completed status at ‘Alliance Terminal’ LLC’s temporary storage warehouse. Following that, customs value adjustments were made, and on September 29, 2022, at 16:12, after the declarant submitted the documents for the goods to the customs authorities, an inspection of the goods was carried out at the temporary storage warehouse of ‘Alliance Terminal’ LLC.

Specifically, without unloading the goods from the truck, the thickness of the polyethylene tarpaulin covering one of the rolls was checked (to verify the correct classification of the goods according to the HS code). No issues related to incorrect HS classification were identified, and at 16:40, the customs authority released the goods.

At this stage, the aforementioned goods acquired the status of EAEU products and were handed over to the control of the declarant, yet the truck did not leave the warehouse. Without leaving the warehouse area, on September 30, 2022, at 10:24, the same declarant submitted and registered transit declaration 05100010/300922/0017152, through which the same goods were declared for transfer from Armenia to Russia by ‘Gu Ar Ji Group’ LLC (the recipient being the Russian LLC ‘Lider’).

This was a standard process defined by EAEU legislation in daily practice. The goods were transferred to Russia using the same vehicle and the same driver. The transit declaration received a yellow lane designation as the goods' HS code was included in the list of dual-use controlled goods.

The customs authority also checked the presence of necessary documents regarding whether or not the product constituted dual-use goods. For the aforementioned polyethylene construction tarpaulin, a certificate issued by the LLC ‘Armenian Research-Testing Center’ on September 30, 2022, was submitted alongside the transit declaration, certifying that the goods are not dual-use items. Once confirmed, the transit declaration obtained the allowed status at 16:16 on September 30, 2022.

It should be noted that during the entire period the goods were under customs control in the temporary storage warehouse of ‘Alliance Terminal’ LLC, the truck transporting the goods was in the view of camera surveillance. Throughout the customs procedures of import to Armenia and transfer to Russia, the vehicle was neither unloaded, nor transloaded, nor loaded with other goods before completely finishing these processes.

The vehicle arrived at the Bagratashen customs post at approximately 00:15 on October 1, 2022. Around 00:30, it underwent another X-ray inspection, which confirmed the same results as the X-ray conducted during its import to Armenia. After the X-ray inspection, at 00:38, it received exit status from the customs authority at the Bagratashen customs post. The transit declaration was declared completed at the Upper Lars customs point on October 5, 2022.

Thus, all customs procedures for the entry of the mentioned goods into the Republic of Armenia, customs monitoring, X-ray inspection, customs clearance, document processing, and export were conducted properly and legally, and no risky factors were identified during the physical examination of the goods and during the X-ray inspection at the entry and exit from the Republic of Armenia.

All copies of documents confirming the aforementioned facts, as well as images from the X-ray inspection equipment and recorded movement from surveillance cameras in customs control areas have been preserved,” the statement concludes.