Sources say that the Pskov region is one large corridor for the illegal trade in weapons, tobacco, alcohol and drugs Photo: The CrimeRussia
Information about the detention by FSB officers of the deputy head of the Pskov customs, Sergei Shubin, shook the customs world like a wave. Participants in foreign economic activity claim that this is just the tip of the corruption iceberg, because Pskov customs is a battlefield in the literal and figurative sense.
Restaurant bill
As the media have already described in detail, Sergei Shubin was detained at the Mama Roma restaurant on Bakunin Avenue in St. Petersburg. The operation was carried out by employees of the Central Office of the FSB of the Russian Federation and operatives of the FSB of the Pskov region. During a personal search, currency in the amount of 10 thousand dollars was found on the head of the high customs chief. According to reports, it was a bribe from an entrepreneur whose name has not yet been disclosed. After the arrest and exposure of the colonel caught red-handed, he was transported to Moscow.
Today, the opinions of customs officials are divided on this matter. Some believe that the colonels were betrayed by their own, others believe that Shubin had been “milking” the businessmen for a long time and they called “where they needed to be.” In any case, according to our sources, Shubin’s subordinates are not very annoyed by the arrest of their boss. And among participants in foreign economic activity there is undisguised joy. Smuggling in the region has long been widespread, despite the fact that Shubin’s immediate superior, Major General Svetlana Stepanova, cheerfully reports on major achievements in the fight against crimes in the field of customs legislation and even nominated her department to participate in the Federal Customs Service competition in the “Best Team” category Border Customs" in 2016.
Head of Pskov Customs, Major General Svetlana Stepanova
The fact is that the Pskov region, with a 30-kilometer border zone bordering three states, has long been under the control of Russian security groups, playing the role of “overseeing” under various power structures. The volume of smuggling, according to some participants in foreign trade activities, is measured in millions of euros, and since this flow is wide and constant, it is possible not only to fish in troubled waters, but also to carry out large seizures, thus bringing departmental reporting into the epic genre.
Our
reference
Pskov Customs was established on May 23, 1991 on the basis of Order No. 173 of the Main Directorate of State Customs Control under the Council of Ministers of the USSR. In 2000, Pskov customs underwent reorganization. The customs posts of the Pytalovsky and Pechora directions were attached to it. Today, Pskov customs has 9 customs posts, 5 of which are border.
Business on three sides
As they write on the official website of the Pskov Customs itself, today the priority direction of its activity is “control over goods and vehicles moved across the customs border of Russia.” Sources put it differently: the Pskov region is one large corridor for the illegal trade in weapons, tobacco, alcohol and drugs.
What is it that attracts crime so much in the poor Pskov region? The answer is simple - a specific geographical location. The fact is that the Pskov region is a region that borders three countries at once - Estonia, Latvia and Belarus. On the one hand, it is a vigilant outpost of the Russian army on the border with NATO member countries. On the other hand, it is an excellent window for organizing flow smuggling lines from Russia to Europe and back. In short, you can earn money here (with the required degree of resourcefulness) quickly and a lot. The borders are transparent, and the transport corridor between countries is a real treasure trove for illegal trade. And after the start of the sanctions confrontation, the strategic importance of the Pskov customs posts skyrocketed.
Our
reference
The length of the external border of the area of activity of the Pskov customs is 470.7 kilometers. Of these, the border with Latvia accounts for 223.7 km, and with Estonia - 247 km.
The economic crisis in Russia and the collapse of the national currency have turned cross-border smuggling into a very profitable business on an unprecedented scale. It is not for nothing that the authorities of the Baltic countries are already talking out loud about building a wall on the border with Russia. The lion's share of business in the Pskov region is based on smuggling. There is a saying among businessmen who want to engage in trade: “if you earned 100 million, local authorities will come to you, if your profit is higher, they will come from Moscow.” Today, the illegal trade in “sanctioned goods” is on a par with such familiar contraband assortment such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs.
Pskov customs
With the arrest of the St. Petersburg oligarch Dmitry Mikhalchenko and the subsequent criminal prosecution of the broker Igor Khavronov, Boris Avakyan and other actors in the smuggling empire of the North-West, the Pskov direction acquired a completely different status. In addition, the usual consumers of the “sanctions” are not in poor Pskov, but in St. Petersburg and Moscow. And, as the residents of Pskov themselves say, smuggling is a tradition for the capitals.
"Cat and mouse" and history
In other words, today the situation with smuggling on the Pskov borders is reminiscent of the times after the First World War. Here is what is written about this in historical chronicles: “The most attractive for smugglers were the border areas close to large consumer centers - primarily Petrograd and Moscow. Therefore, the Pskov province, equidistant from both capitals, turned out to be an ideal corridor for the transit of smuggling in the North-West of the country. According to the OGPU, a significant part of the population was involved in this fishery. There was a clear tendency towards the professionalization of Pskov smugglers. Single smugglers quickly began to unite into stable criminal groups, working for hire and receiving from 10 to 25% for the delivery of contraband goods.”
Many decades have passed since then, but neither the smuggling groups, nor even the rate of 10 to 25% have changed. Perhaps the most enterprising security officials began to enthusiastically protect illegal supplies, and the “overlookers” appeared not only in the “thieves’” environment, but also under various power structures.
The only conceptual difference between historical and modern criminal intent is that smuggling is now carried through the “green corridors” by customs officers themselves and they do it systematically. As foreign trade participants say on the sidelines, customs officers in the North-West today have a very difficult anti-corruption task with three unknowns - how to defeat corruption without affecting their business, and to remain in office and in the chair. It is no coincidence that Pskov Customs is one of the largest in the North-West in terms of the number of officials.
Pskov customs
In this regard, the arrest of the deputy head of Pskov customs in St. Petersburg is also not accidental. Firstly, “respected people” do not decide matters in Pskov; St. Petersburg is more suitable for this. Secondly, those 10 thousand dollars seized from Colonel Shubin are, as sources say, either another tranche or a workshop fee. Or, as they say (another version of the scandalous arrest), this is a warning about the emergence of mobile groups. It is known that the main enemy of smugglers is surprise. Mobile groups of security forces hunting for sanctioned goods are a real disaster for shadow commerce tycoons. They are sudden and catch someone every day, in particular on the border of the Pskov region with Belarus.
Our
reference
According to the Federal Customs Service, today in Russia there are 35 mobile groups working to identify and suppress the import of prohibited goods, created on the basis of customs authorities and located in places close to the state border. Most of the work in this direction takes place on sections of the Russian-Belarusian border.
The head of the Main Directorate of Customs Control, Valery Seleznev, also spoke at a recent August meeting that catching sanctioned goods is a priority for customs authorities today. In this regard, timely warning of the appearance of dashing guys from a mobile group is expensive. According to sources, $10,000 is, in a sense, the standard rate for high-ranking customs officials for information provided. Be that as it may, the currency history of Colonel Shubin, according to some sources, may reveal to FSB officers many other, more interesting stories from the life of corrupt officials and smugglers. The CrimeRussia editors will monitor developments.
The inspection of Kingisepp customs ended with an order from the head of the Federal Customs Service of Russia Bulavin to open 150 containers. This is not very legal, but the smugglers also say: “We created the chaos ourselves.” Events are intertwined with the grave turmoil in Vyborg. 47news smelled personnel changes, after which even Colonel Yastrebov would pass for a democrat.
The capital inspection of the North-Western Customs Administration, which, as is known, includes regional divisions - Vyborg and Kingisepp customs, formally ended on March 3. Kingiseppskaya was checked with passion. The initiator of the inspection was the head of the Risk and Operational Control Department of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, Colonel Philip Zolotnitsky. At the beginning of this year, he convinced the head of the country’s customs department, Vladimir Bulavin, of the need for action. Vyborg was not hit hard, but what happened may affect it too - after the report on the results, the autopsy began.
So, during the inspection, which began at the end of January, a container was stopped at the port of Ust-Luga, which, according to the declaration, was supposed to contain Chinese chemicals. The customs fee for cleaning products is three kopecks. And it contained clothes from Turkey. This fact was a good reason to inquire about the contents of the following containers. So, in six more of them a similar problem arose. Accordingly, the auditors requested data from the shippers of those containers that are still in storage at the port pending the submission of the declaration. After this, an undercover panic began, and only a rare businessman decided to file a customs declaration for his cargo. As the Kingisepp customs office clearly explained to the journalist, “and then the port stopped.”
Note that according to the rules, the cargo is stored free of charge for only a few days, and then the rent increases. But no one at the port was in a hurry to pay. Which would be suspicious even to an amateur.
To which the employees of the central office of the Federal Customs Service, who do not yet have the right to open containers that were settled in a special zone of the port, pulled up special scales. Measurements have shown that many containers weigh more than stated in the so-called “bill of lading”, which indicates the product code, weight, description, sender and recipient. For example, in one there are not 7 tons, but 17. In the other, not 23 tons, but 10. Then the employees brought a mobile complex, or, in other words, an X-ray. The X-ray only underscored the suspicions. So, to the financial horror of the phrase “The port is up,” they now answer with irony: “And it’s clear why.”
Thus, according to the maximum data, about 400 “frightened” containers were crowded in the port, and according to the minimum – 150. Note that the most influential businessman of St. Petersburg, Dmitry Mikhalchenko, only had a few containers with elite alcohol. Let’s also wink and say that, according to 47news, some of the stopped containers were heading towards a large logistics company, also owned by a very well-known businessman in St. Petersburg named Vadim.
As a result, recently at the final report the head of the Federal Customs Service Bulavin put an emotional resolution. Thus, the head of the Northwestern Technical University, Alexander Getman, was given the following instructions: “Do not allow containers to be exported back abroad.” To be honest, even if there is common sense in this line, it is still illiterate. The Federal Customs Service does not have the authority to detain cargo at the storage point.
Another thing is that the intensity of the indignation, they say, is such that the autopsy has actually begun. According to our publication, orders have already been issued to open 150 containers. And according to information that requires confirmation, similar processes may begin at the Baltic customs. This is how the interests of smugglers in two strategic transshipment bases are affected today - the Port of Ust-Luga and the Big Port of St. Petersburg.
Now some will be forced to urgently send cargo abroad, change the name of the sender's and recipient's shops. In short, troubles and expenses.
In the shadow world, of course, there are logical explanations for these movements. Thus, one of the players, who is not ready to pay all customs duties, and even fight for citations in the media, commented on what was happening to a journalist: “But because we ourselves created chaos that crossed all borders. On the black market, the price of delivering a “box” of clothes "from China has already dropped to 20 thousand dollars, although the payments alone should be under 100 thousand dollars. Do the math for yourself - from five to seven dollars per kilogram, officially. So the treasury is empty, and the customs in Moscow sees it, understands it and goes berserk." We couldn’t help but ask such an expert a question about Vyborg. He also commented this way to the head of the Vyborg customs, Alexander Yastrebov, about whom our publication wrote several times with such enthusiasm.
Is it possible for thieves?
- We will only be glad- the journalist agreed.
- Tighten the nuts, but bring the money.
- And what are the prospects?
- Soon there will be no money to pay for dinner.
- In what sense?
- So this is Vyborg. Smugglers, customs officers and bandits are sitting in the same restaurant. There is less and less money, but the tribute remains the same.
- Is it correct to compare this vague economic squabble with the dollar exchange rate, which jumped twice, pulling prices with it, but wages remained the same?
- Whoa.
- What is the name of this “course”?
“So you wrote about him,” the interlocutor laughed.
But we did not write about the conversations that began thanks to both the events in Vyborg and the March results of the Federal Customs Service commission. They say that the head of the Vyborg customs, Yastrebov, may be promoted to first deputy of the North-West Customs Union. After all, the fact that on the official website of the department Yuri Lyamkin is still listed as first deputy is not entirely correct. He was suspended long ago even before the decision of the Dzerzhinsky court in St. Petersburg. If interesting, . It is not a corporate secret that both Yastrebov and the head of the Kingisepp customs, Sergei Slepukhin, are considered protégés of the head of the North-West Customs Union, Alexander Getman.
But it is planned to send the head of the Pskov customs, Major General Svetlana Stepanova, to the Vyborg direction. As for her character, the glorious city of Vyborg will still be remembered. According to our friends in Pskov, “Stepanova can go to detentions herself and personally open cargo.”
Not Svetlana Viktorovna, but some kind of nightmare,” our interlocutor promised us, and we felt that he knew her firsthand.
Evgeny Vyshenkov,
47news
By fish, by stars
Carries a scow:
Three Greeks to Odessa
They are smuggling goods.
This is how the poet Eduard Bagritsky’s poem “Smugglers,” written in 1927, begins so beautifully and romantically. A poem about the daily prose of, perhaps, any customs officer, in any place where the state border is more or less visible. The Polish border is no exception. Smuggling, as a phenomenon, in itself is one of the signs of the state, since the definition itself contains the whole essence of the process of illegally moving something across the border - contra - against and bando - decree of the authorities (Italian). Why does this word have Italian roots? Perhaps because the process of illegal import itself, which is so widely used by those who want to make money in our modern times, came to us from Ancient Rome. According to some reports, in Rome (Ancient, of course), bypassing various legal norms, wine was illegally imported in vessels for olive oil - naturally, passed off as olive oil. As they would say now - not subject to excise duty. So the history of smuggling is long and interesting.
Customs...finds good
In the modern world, smuggling is represented in the widest volume. It causes enormous damage to the budgets of any country, even those considered developed. After all, this type of illegal activity flourishes in them too. Combating smuggling is not so easy. Basically, keeping it as low as possible is considered a serious success. And the point is not only that dishonest officials or criminal structures are involved in this criminal business, it’s also about the excitement of sometimes the simplest people. Polish customs officers confiscate the lion's share from ordinary citizens who decided to take a chance and, if possible, get their hands on a couple of thousand illegal zlotys. Customs officers admit that sometimes they themselves are surprised at the ingenuity of the smugglers they come across. This applies equally to simple petty swindlers and large parties whose logistics involve large gangs.
To jest moja banda, and to jest – kontrabanda...
According to a long-standing tradition, cigarettes, vodka, and fuel are brought to Poland. Although no, vodka is still brought less often. The price for it in the “exporting countries” is approximately equal. And in Russia it has generally become higher. And judging by the alcohol shipments recently seized by the Polish Customs Service, it had signs of counterfeit rather than smuggling. And, indeed, as a result of joint activities of customs and police within the country, underground mini-factories of alcoholic beverages were liquidated. But gasoline, and more often diesel, is carried quite regularly. Even illegal gas stations have appeared in the border zone of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. True, they were liquidated quite soon. Cigarette carriers are particularly sophisticated. Drugs are on this list separately, but we can’t do without them. Recently, Polish police detained the largest in history a batch of cocaine. Let's see what methods ambitious carriers use.
Classics of the genre
Smuggling can perhaps be compared to music: some people like this phenomenon, others it interferes with their lives; someone receives income from it by doing it professionally, recording albums, for example, while others simply consume the products offered by the composer. Same with smuggling. It has its own virtuoso performers, there are composers, and there are also those who happily consume smuggled products. With style and genre, everything is the same as in music. Some people like it more modern, others prefer the classics. Some transport cocaine in a submarine, or using a drone, which is undoubtedly cutting-edge; others, like a fan of mazurkas, polonaises and Chopin's preludes, return time after time to the immortal classic methods of transporting illegal tobacco products. Take, for example, these gentlemen on trucks
This method is as old as the history of the truck tractor itself. But this does not mean that someone abandoned him. And it cannot be denied that if the circumstances are successful for the smuggler, this old-fashioned method brings a good sum. Not long ago, in the opened cache of one of the trucks heading to Poland, customs officers discovered 26 thousand packs of cigarettes without a Polish excise stamp. The estimated cost of the shipment, according to border guards, was around 240 thousand zlotys (approx. 55 thousand euros). If the business had failed, the benefits of the bookmark would have been obvious.
But if you weld cigarettes into a frame or hidden cavities, this still somehow requires time and the ability to disguise the hiding place, then performing simple vulcanization using cigarettes instead of air does not require much intelligence. It would seem that the method has long lost its former effectiveness due to its pop style, but blessed is he who believes...
Everyone knows that the Mercedes company produces decent cars. Technically equipped and to a certain extent reliable, they have been indispensable assistants for both ordinary citizens and government agencies, as well as smugglers, for many decades. When opening the caches in minibuses of this brand, customs officers get the impression that a whole team of engineers affiliated with smugglers works at the plant - so neatly thousands of packs of cigarettes are inscribed into the interior reliefs and into the technological cavities of the cars. But this, of course, is not true. It’s just that the engineering thought of the carriers of illegal cargo keeps pace with the professionals of the automakers. And sometimes even further.
Those who have ever traveled by car to Poland by car could have noticed entire queues of Volkswagen Passat third and fourth B series. This unpretentious and reliable car was so loved by smugglers that driving it across the border became almost tantamount to declaring - here I am, check me out. A kind of smuggling van. True, this does not stop those who then refer to problems with starting in winter. Diesel, they say: you have to retrofit the car with hood insulation
Well, for some, the factory sound insulation of the bottom is not enough. That's it! And this needs to be improved!
Well, there are just daring guys who think that hiding something doesn’t suit them.
But all this should be taken as a prelude to what else customs officers encounter at the border of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Quite extraordinary things happen. The genius of technical smuggling thought and ingenuity sometimes simply goes off scale. Moreover, oddly enough, we are not talking about some expensive drugs. People still simply carry the same cocaine and heroin in their stomachs. Customs officers at Frederic Chopin Airport shook one and a half kilograms of drugs worth 280 thousand zlotys out of one citizen at a time
So, no! They cunningly carry the same everyday cigarettes. Here, for example, the same People's Car comes onto the scene, the driver of which wanted to continue driving at the moment when a mobile customs patrol tried to stop him not far from the border. The athlete began to run away from the guards of import duties. At the same time, he escaped quite successfully for some time. As they say, any luck must be carefully thought out. Our hero strictly followed this rule, which is why he pre-equipped his car with a gadget worthy of a Bond car, namely a smoke screen. It is unknown whether customs had to call the gas and smoke control department for help, but the photo of the fugitive with a customs officer standing next to the smuggler’s car seems to hint that the chase was successful. Not in favor of the latter.
Our next hero also has something to do with gases. This time to the usual LPG. Those who have traveled across the Polish border by car have more than once seen (or experienced for themselves) how customs officers selectively inspect cars for unnecessary communications under the hood or bottom. This often means that there is an extra tank of gas hidden somewhere. But, as it turns out, it’s not always gasoline. This traveler from Lithuania had a completely legal gas cylinder filled to the top with cigarettes. Since the car refused to run on tobacco, this system also had to be modified. A spray can from a tourist stove was quite suitable for this. If asked to switch to gas, everything would work. The cylinder from the original system comfortably fit 1000 packs of cigarettes. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that illegal tobacco products were also hidden under the bumpers.
Nostalgia for old and reliable technology caught another Lithuanian resident. He was returning home through Poland from a long business trip. While on a work trip, the citizen used an old TV at his leisure. He considered flat ones unreliable, preferring “old school”. Moreover, as it turned out, the old-school TV box provides more than 3D capabilities. Still would! You can’t hide a batch of illegal cigarettes in a “plasma” or liquid crystal panel, if only individually. Not far from the non-existent border, he was stopped for inspection by a mobile customs team. They appreciated the choice of technology.
There are, of course, more simple-minded, but no less curious cases. So, for example, a cake traveling to Poland aroused suspicion among border guards. As it turned out, not in vain. Simple manipulations with cutlery such as a knife showed that the Polish customs officers were right - the filling of the cake was the same cigarettes.
But all of the above, as can be seen from the subtitle, have already become classics of transporting cigarettes. There are even more sophisticated options.
Progress does not stand still
Progress in smuggling thought does not stand still. Every day new ways of transporting the same cigarettes appear.
Thus, Świętokrzyskie customs officers detained a timber train with what at first glance seemed to be an ordinary cargo for this type of transport. But upon inspection, the cargo, namely pine wood materials, turned out to be mixed with tobacco. 15 thousand packs of cigarettes, worth approximately 200 thousand zlotys, were hidden in the cavities of tree trunks.
They also tried to deliver curbs (aka curbs) to Poland by train. And everything would have been fine, but customs were confused by the unusual weight of the concrete blocks. They also managed to find out what additives the manufacturers resorted to. The composition of the know-how turned out to be very popular: we take concrete, add tobacco packaged in sleeves and packs, and we get a lightweight curb. In total, the “road sector” of one of the contractors in Poland received approximately 100 thousand zlotys less from innovative development as of 2009:
Truly titanic work was carried out by people who decided to deliver tens of thousands of packs of cigarettes to Poland, bypassing its treasury. Not that we praise them specifically for this, but packing cigarettes into grooves cut into several thousand boards of boards is work worthy of attention. This attention was kindly provided by Polish customs, which successfully seized the illegal tobacco.
Children's modeling classes are not in vain. It’s not for nothing that they say: everything that is invested in children will be useful in the future. While countries are developing drones capable of carrying some kind of payload, smugglers are already using them to their fullest. One of these homemade devices landed with the help of Russian FSB border guards in the Kaliningrad region, before reaching its destination in Lithuania. Lithuania and its citizens often fall into the hands of Polish customs officers with smuggled cigarettes from Russia. This route for illegal cigarettes is very popular, since Lithuania and Poland do not have border control points. As it turned out, the drone took on board an entire box of illegal cigarettes, and could potentially carry a payload of up to 10 kilograms. The device was equipped with GPS and other expensive stuffing
But there are also those who prefer to cover up various types of organizations over technical tricks. Moreover, the organizations themselves are not aware of this, which is natural. It is unlikely that the hospital in Lubuskie Voivodeship, to which this ambulance was assigned, returning from Lithuania, knew that it would not go “empty.” The driver loaded it with cigarettes worth 70 thousand zlotys. Truly, smoking is harmful.
But the height of insolence can be considered to be the nun and priest driving a car with the logo of a well-known charitable organization in Poland. The customs officers could not be convinced that among the gifts from Belarusian co-religionists, fifteen and a half thousand packs of cigarettes were also intended for the needs of the poor and disadvantaged. What confused the customs officers was that the car was stopped near the Polish-Lithuanian border, and when asked where the clergy were coming from, they answered that they were from Belarus. The solitaire didn't work out and they were asked to open the luggage compartment. In addition to clothes, toys and other belongings, the luggage contained those same notorious cigarettes worth 170 thousand zlotys. Of course, the nun and priest were fake, as was the logo on their vehicle. They had nothing to do with charity or the clergy, but in the person of this couple, Poland has clearly lost actors. Albeit, as it turned out, not the best, but ambitious.
Guys, music, drugs...
But cigarettes are not the only thing that dishonest citizens of different countries are trying to illegally import into Poland or transit through it. Drugs occupy a special niche of smuggling. They are hidden no less pretentiously than cigarettes. Lately it has become more and more pretentious. Of the parties detained on the Polish border, several stood out in particular. Let's list them here.
The story of cocaine and heroin in the stomach no longer surprises many people. Rather, it’s surprising that anyone else does this. But if they carry it, that means the chance of getting it through remains high. However, smugglers resorted to a more sophisticated way to smuggle heroin, sending Seltzeson (a sausage product) in a parcel to Spain. Customs officers were confused by the presence of only a telephone number on the parcel instead of the recipient’s standard address. After opening the box, a cooler bag with sausage was found inside. Additional suspicion was aroused by its expiration date and the care with which the expired sausage was frozen and packaged. Despite the fact that in Spain the brawn was probably awaited by fellow countrymen yearning for their native sausage, it was decided to mercilessly open the sausage. After several movements with the knife, it turned out that the manufacturer had added not only starch to the composition, but also heroin. Only 48 grams of the drug.
But a parcel from Iran, unlike sausage, could be stored forever. Persian carpets are generally of excellent quality. Like the Afghan heroin, which was hidden, or rather, woven into the structure of the carpet. Employees of the Polish Central Bureau of Investigation and Polish customs were quite amazed at the art and perseverance of those who packaged the drug in the thinnest tubes and then wove them into carpets. The detained recipient of the carpets denied accusations of involvement in the cargo, saying that he only had to hand over the carpets. The prosecutor's office, however, did not believe him and prepared a paperwork that adequately corresponded to a batch of 15 kilograms of heroin worth up to 15 million zlotys on the black market.
Compared to the smugglers who fall into the hands of Polish customs officers, their colleagues from Latin America, trying to transport illegal goods to the United States or somewhere else, sometimes look like complete amateurs. Apart from, of course, the “porcelain service” made of pure cocaine and the “plaster” figurine of Santa Claus made of a specific gypsum growing in sunny Colombia. The drug traffickers who transported cocaine in the submarine also distinguished themselves - at the beginning of the material we were not joking about this. But still, many there are trying to smuggle contraband in a way that the author of this material saw in the early 90s on the Brest-Terespol stretch. The indescribable was happening there. Girls transformed from thin to plump by wrapping bags of alcohol around themselves. For the time being, because then female customs officers appeared and this number stopped working and, it would seem, should have sunk into oblivion, but no - someone is still using the old developments.
To summarize, I would like to note that smuggling may not only be a headache for border guards. She is such a common phenomenon in our lives that films, poems, as at the beginning of the material, and even songs are dedicated to her. Happy listening (Warning: Contains profanity!)
Operatives from the central office of the Federal Security Service detained the deputy head of Pskov customs, Sergei Shubin. He is suspected of having been given 10 thousand dollars by a businessman in a St. Petersburg restaurant. Fontanka learned that after this the operational investigative team worked in the establishment for eight hours, and the detained lieutenant colonel confessed. The operation was secret, and he was followed by a couple with flowers. And they took him to Moscow.
According to Fontanka, on August 31, at about 12:30 p.m., in the Mama Roma chain restaurant on Bakunin Avenue in the Central District, operatives from the central apparatus of the FSB of Russia and the FSB Directorate for the Pskov Region detained the deputy head of the Pskov customs, lieutenant colonel of the customs service Sergei Shubin .
According to Fontanka, at the time we indicated, several operatives approached the table where he was sitting with some businessman, showed him their IDs, and handcuffed him. You can see that a young couple was also sitting next to Shubin’s table, and there was a bouquet of flowers on their table. They also turned out to be FSB officers. Shubin’s interlocutor was immediately taken away somewhere and did not participate in the events anymore.
Then the security officers blocked off the hall where all this happened and began confiscating the money. In Shubin's small bag they found a wad of dollars and five mobile phones. Employees brought a computer and a printer from parked official cars, after which the procedure began to describe and seize what was found. As Fontanka learned, an expert was also present who took fingerprints from both Shubin and the envelope containing the currency. It later turned out that the amount was exactly 10 thousand dollars.
According to Fontanka, at first Shubin refused, saying that the businessman simply left him this money, but then he personally wrote a sincere confession. During this time, counterintelligence officers opened his correspondence on WhatsApp, about which he was also asked questions.
Our publication also learned that an hour later Shubin became ill, and employees brought him medicine. And a few hours later his wife came to see him, they were allowed to talk, and she ordered him lunch at the restaurant.
All procedures ended only at 20 pm, after which the officers took Shubin away without handcuffs. As Fontanka found out, he is currently being transported on the St. Petersburg-Moscow train, and the FSB officers who arrived from Moscow to St. Petersburg did not inform the regional Directorate of their intentions, which indicates the utmost secrecy of the implementation.
As for the newsmaker himself, Sergei Shubin, he began his career as an officer in the Pskov Airborne Division, and today at the Pskov Customs he is responsible for law enforcement work and is the head of the contract service.
The news about the detention of the deputy head of the Pskov customs Sergei Shubin for a large bribe a month and a half ago in St. Petersburg shocked the entire customs system. The boss was tied up in a restaurant with 10 thousand dollars in his briefcase. Shubin at first refused to admit guilt, but after communicating with the security forces he wrote a sincere confession.
Immediately after the incident, versions began to be put forward. They also said that Shubin was framed by his own people, and that this was the work of business representatives, for whom it was easier to remove the customs boss than to agree on something. One thing is clear: someone needed the arrest of such a significant figure in the customs world.
As reported by Mos. News, according to a source in law enforcement agencies, such a “knight’s move” was beneficial to the co-owners of the multi-brand company “BNS group” Igor Nefedenkov, Yuri Sychev and Alexander Bugaev. They built their business on importing clothes from famous brands to Russia. From Armani to CALVIN KLEIN. Since 1997, BNS group has practically captured the fashion market in Russia. Today BNS group has more than one hundred stores throughout the country. That is, it is these three who dress us in expensive and fashionable things. All these multimillion-dollar deliveries, of course, go through customs. Perhaps not always legally, i.e. bypassing legal procedures and, accordingly, avoiding contributions to the budget. Back in the 90s, businesses involved in crime began to penetrate customs en masse.
They created their own terminals, through which counterfeit goods sometimes passed freely. BNS group followed the same path. Thus, Nefedenkov, together with Bugaev and Sychev, became part of the founders of TLT “M-9” - a customs and logistics terminal located near the Russian border with Latvia. After which they created the company “Customs Center M-9”. A figurehead was installed as the director of the customs center - manager Pavel Poyarkov. It was this Poyarkov who played a fatal role in the chess game. The man went to St. Petersburg and met with Shubin, allegedly to give him money. Poyarkov indicated that he had given a bribe to the customs officer.
The real details of this meeting remain behind the scenes, but immediately after Poyarkov left the hall, security forces burst into the establishment. The dumbfounded Shubin tried to explain that the cash in the briefcase belonged to the entrepreneur and there was no talk of any bribe. However, Poyarkov, with trump cards in his hands, argued completely the opposite.
It was very profitable for the owners of BNS group to play the combination and remove Shubin, because now all their channels are open for the supply of goods from Europe. And, it seems, here the matter is no longer calculated in 10 thousand dollars, but inexhaustible millions.
After Shubin’s arrest, chaos reigns in the department under his control. Employees of the Pskov customs in a low voice and with full confidence talk about the interests of Poyarkov and his patrons. The workers are waiting for the new boss and are confident that Poyarkov and his bosses will do everything to ensure that their person ends up in the deputy manager’s chair.