iPhones are imported in the thousands: the deputy head of the Federal Customs Service revealed the cunning schemes of smugglers

– Explain in simple words, how much currency can now be exported from the country? What amounts and jewelry must be declared?

– Soon after the start of the SVO in March 2022, Decree No. 81 of the President of the Russian Federation was signed and the export of funds from the country was limited to 10 thousand dollars in any currency. If you export a larger amount, you may be fined. If you bring an amount over 10 thousand dollars into the country, it must be declared. With the beginning of the SVO, the export of cash has increased significantly, and accordingly, the number of cases of administrative offenses has increased. If we are talking about air transport, we can export up to 10 thousand dollars and up to 50 kg of cargo (we are talking only about goods for personal use). As for jewelry, for example, a watch with a case made of precious metals worth more than 1 million rubles… If a person leaves the country, he better declare it, otherwise he may face criminal prosecution.

– What do individuals most often try to illegally import into Russia? Are you seeing an increase in “gray” imports, and for which products is this especially noticeable?

– Just jewelry, precious stones and metals, branded clothing, shoes. Considering that now many brands have left the country, for example such well-known ones as Bulgari, Cartier, etc. attempts are often made to import these goods. Those who were involved in mass imports, the so-called “buyers,” have now become more active. Let’s take the same “iPhones”, lately it’s just a scourge – mass import with distribution among groups of people. 10-15 phones are distributed in one hand, and people fly on the same plane. It is clear that this is a batch for subsequent resale. Of course, its owners are not carriers flying on the same flight, such schemes are familiar and understandable to us, we calculate them.

– Well, okay, one person is flying and he has 10-15 new iPhones. How to prove that it is contraband?

– We control such cases; this is not only the work of customs control. This includes preliminary operational information about the movement of a certain party across the border. There are stable channels, established chains, people who do this, most of them are known to us. We try to bring our subjects to the place where the goods are transferred, because it is not necessary to pick up smugglers at the airport. Lately, the number of iPhones imported at once has been in the thousands, but these are already large shipments, and we detained them, of course, in other ways.

– How much has import from China increased in the last year? On which products is this most noticeable?

– Of course, the numbers are growing. Overall, in terms of value and weight, we have an increase of about 37 percent. If we talk about the nomenclature, these are cars, spare parts, clothing and shoes.

– From which countries did the trade flow increase the most, and from which did it decrease?

– We have practically left the European market, imports from countries such as Germany, France, Italy – all those included in the list of unfriendly countries – have become significantly lower. As for exports, we have not completely left these markets, and we are indirectly present there. If we talk about growth, then these are both Turkey and South Korea; indicators in trade with India, the UAE, Uzbekistan, and Egypt have increased.

– How is parallel import established in Russia today? Are unscrupulous entrepreneurs importing counterfeit goods under the guise of parallel import?

– Parallel imports were established in order to prevent unscrupulous copyright holders from states included in the list of unfriendly countries from artificially limiting the work of our participants in foreign economic activity in foreign markets. So that they can import a certain range of original goods from abroad. This area is administered by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. They make appropriate changes, some goods are added, some are removed. Of course, counterfeit goods are also imported, and we fight them quite effectively. This year, 3 million 300 thousand units of counterfeit products were seized. Compared to last year, this is almost two times less, and is again due to the fact that trade volumes with European countries have decreased significantly.

– What happens to goods that have been seized? Are they required to be destroyed? For example, I have seen many times how they roll cheese into the ground with bulldozers.

– It’s a pity?

– Of course, it’s a pity.

– Different categories of goods require special conditions for their destruction. I would divide this problem into two parts. The counterfeit is subject to unconditional destruction. Counterfeit products, which we, for example, often detain on the Kazakh route, are seized at Samara customs. There are a lot of goods coming from the other side, including Chinese, without documents. A number of decisions have now been adopted giving the right to direct communication between customs authorities and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Various categories of goods are now in demand as part of the SBO. According to the adopted resolution, customs authorities are allowed to transfer goods to a unit of the Ministry of Defense without unnecessary bureaucracy. This category includes goods for military and other purposes, or, for example, tobacco products – you understand, on the front line it is very difficult without cigarettes. Subsequently, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Popular Front were included in the number of recipient organizations of the seized products. Today we have the right to transfer in-demand goods without product safety documents. The mechanism is approximately the same as through the Federal Property Management Agency, but the ability to transfer without “intermediaries” greatly simplifies the process. As for goods that are not subject to such transfer, the mechanism is very simple. The Federal Property Management Agency makes an appropriate decision on subsequent sale with receipt of documents on the safety of these products, or on destruction.

– How is customs work organized in new regions? What difficulties did you encounter there?

– The main difficulty is that we do not have a secure external border in new regions through which foreign economic activity can be carried out. We have allocated about 1,285 positions in the new regions. We are recruiting, everyone who worked in the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions was enrolled in the customs authorities of the Russian Federation. The difficulty is that some of these people are fighting. One of our main tasks is to teach people to integrate the customs services of new regions into the customs system of the Russian Federation. Nowadays they do not process declarations on their own. We will begin working in full when the situation allows it.

– What technical means do customs officers use to detect drugs? How do you manage to identify drug couriers and cargo with a prohibited “potion”?

– These are mobile inspection systems, as well as the technical equipment that we have at our airports. When detecting drugs, technology is probably not the most important thing. Any, even the most inveterate smuggler, will worry when crossing the border. Many of our guys, who have worked for a long time as inspectors, standing at the border, at airports, can determine that something is unclean here, just by looking at a person – how he walks, how he reacts to a customs officer in uniform. Where is the “cargo” hidden? It all depends on the wild imagination of drug couriers. Shoe heels, double sole, impregnation. For example, once galoshes were covered with liquid heroin, the drugs were identified, although who would have thought. One of the main assistants is, of course, dogs from the canine units of the customs authorities. Our dogs, as a rule, work on narcotic drugs, tobacco products, banknotes, weapons, ammunition, and explosives. Another traditional method of transportation is intracavitary concealment; in other words, drugs are swallowed. Drug couriers can carry anywhere from 200-300 grams to one and a half kilograms of drugs inside them. Of course, there are risks of rupture of the package with the “potion”, and this is guaranteed poisoning and death, and such facts, unfortunately, happened. People hide drugs in a variety of places, including intimate ones. We had a similar fact; one married couple tried to cross the border. They hide drugs in children’s clothes and toys. If we talk about large batches, then these are vehicles, with filling in the technological voids of cars, in gas tanks. If these are cargo containers, then in the technological cavities behind the front wall. If ships, then these could be anchor boxes, the bottom of ships. One example: in 2021, we seized a total of more than 800 kilograms of heroin, hidden in pallets. Moreover, the bars themselves from which the pallets were made were filled with heroin.

– What rare animals are smuggled by customs officers most often? In which regions, which animals are popular with smugglers?

– We suppress smuggling of live animals and derivatives, i.e. body parts. In different countries they have some mystical meaning, for example, a bear’s paw on the table on New Year’s Day in China symbolizes good luck: it means everything will be fine. They are in great demand, including in the restaurant business. If he talks about rare animals, then these are cubs of crocodiles, brown bears, parrots, in particular the pink cockatoo, even dolphins. And also snakes, turtles, scorpions, primates. These are the animals we seized. Falcon falcons are in great demand, and this is a very recent example, they are used for hunting, they are often taken to the UAE and other countries. With enviable regularity, once every 3-4 months, these birds are sure to come across, this channel, which, unfortunately, does not dry out. They are euthanized and wrapped in cloth, and other small animals are also often transported.

– One of the serious problems is the “gray” import of wood to China. How do customs officers combat illegal timber exports in the Far East?

– It is worth saying that it was quite successful. The main problem is to prosecute the smuggler. The average period from the moment of receipt of information to the moment of sentencing is about 3.5 years. We identify a lot of facts about episodes from past years, work on criminal cases, and new episodes are revealed. Last year, out of the total volume of exported timber (about 25 million cubic meters), about 900 thousand cubic meters were processed in criminal cases, which is 3.5 percent of the total export volume. This year – 3 percent, we have exported about 19 million cubic meters, and about 600 thousand cubic meters are the subject of criminal cases. The decline is underway. Last year, 315 criminal cases were initiated in connection with the illegal export of timber, this year there are already 325, and 85 of them are in the Far East. There, the main method of illegal export is obtaining permits using falsified documents. I believe that we are fighting this problem quite successfully, but one of the main problems is precisely the inability to react in time to a crime that is being committed right now, due to a number of objective reasons. One of our main tasks is to create a system so that it reliably, I would say online, allows us to identify signs of crimes being committed.