MOSCOW. Jan 29 (Interfax-AVN) - The Kazakh border remains among the principal smuggling channels due to its openness and extent, a spokesman for the Russian Federal Border Guard Service told Interfax-Military News Agency on Tuesday.
The spokesman said that contraband goods worth more than USD3.44m had been confiscated at the border last year, with the sum equaling the cost of the goods confiscated during the three previous years. The main share of the contraband is transported outside border guard check-points.
The press-center of the Federal Boarder Guard Service reported on Tuesday details of the two latest attempts to smuggle goods through the Kazakh border. Four Russian and three Kazakh citizens tried to smuggle household goods from Kazakhstan into Russia, their total cost mounting up to RUB1.48m (USD48,200). The smugglers were arrested during the weekend by servicemen of the Kurgan border guard detachment. The confiscated goods were subsequently handed over to customs officers.
Border guard servicemen apprehended in the end of the week three more violators trying to pass through from Russia into Kazakhstan four tonnes of medicines, their cost mounting up to RUB500,000 (USD16,327). The attempt was prevented at the sector of responsibility of the Barnaul border guard detachment.
The Russian-Kazakh border is 7,598 kilometers long. Director of the Federal Border Guard Service Konstantin Totsky said it was necessary to spend RUB17bn (USD553.8m) in order to substantially improve check-point facilities of the Kazakh border. The sum equals the year 2002 budget of the Federal Border Guard Service mounting up to RUB18bn (USD 586.37m).
Speaking of the difficulties facing Russian border guards at the Kazakh frontier, Totsky expressed his hope that the situation would change for the better once the program for improvement of the Russian border guard facilities was initiated.