Worth 100 Million Yuan! Kazakhstan Customs Seizes a Shipment of E-Cigarettes from China

On July 3, the press office of the Kazakhstan Ministry of Finance reported that the Alakol Customs in Kazakhstan recently intercepted a shipment of e-cigarettes from China, weighing 155.8 tons and estimated to be worth 6.1 billion Kazakh tenge (approximately 100 million yuan).

Customs officials stated that the reason for detaining this shipment of e-cigarettes and the transport vehicle was the failure to provide documentation and import declarations upon arrival in the Eurasian Economic Union customs area, violating relevant regulations.

It is understood that customs staff, along with personnel from the Zhetis region's economic investigation department, halted the import of this batch of illegal disposable e-cigarettes, e-liquids, and e-cigarette accessories into Kazakhstan during the control of the goods and vehicles at Alakol Customs. According to experts in the country, the total value of the intercepted goods is estimated at 6.1 billion tenge, with a total expected customs duty of 1.9 billion tenge (approximately 31 million yuan).

The goods and evidence have currently been transferred to the investigative department in the Zhetis region for further investigation and legal proceedings.

Additionally, from March 1 to 6 of this year, a total of 8 trucks entered Kazakhstan's Alakol Customs from China. According to the country's laws, the carriers failed to promptly notify customs authorities of the arrival of goods and vehicles within the Eurasian Economic Union borders and did not submit the necessary documentation, violating Article 154 of the Customs Law. For these violations, carriers are held administratively accountable under Articles 524 and 531 of the Administrative Offenses Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

In May of this year, a Kazakh citizen was sentenced to one year in prison for smuggling e-cigarettes and smoking accessories valued at 50 million tenge. Previously, the Chairman of the State Duma of Russia, Volodin, called for a joint crackdown on gray channels among the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, specifically naming Belarus and Kazakhstan.