On Friday, 25 March, 2022 border guards stopped the illegal movement of cigarettes across the Belarusian - Latvian state border and pulled a raft with smuggled cigarettes out of the Daugava River.
During the inspection of the state border with a motorboat the officials of the Piedruja Border Guard Unit of the Daugavpils Board of the State Border Guard noticed a raft in the Daugava River. Throughout the examination of it, the border guards noticed that the raft consists of three rectangular boxes wrapped in white polyethylene film, which were connected to each other. Officials found 28,800 “NZ Gold” cigarettes with Belarusian excise stamps.
Criminal proceedings have been initiated according to the Section 191 (3) of the Criminal Law for storage, movement, forwarding or disposal of 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 and is punishable with deprivation of liberty for a period up to six years, with or without confiscation of property, with or without probationary supervision, with deprivation of the right to engage in entrepreneurial activity of a specific type or of all types or to engage in specific employment or the right to take up a specific office for a period of up to five years.