STAVROPOL. Feb 4 (Interfax-AVN) - Border guards of the Rostov border guard unit and customs officers have detected dangerous smuggled goods onboard the Volgobalt-192 vessel in the port of Taganrog.
"In the course of an inspection of the Volgobalt-192 vessel, registered in Kaliningrad, which arrived from Ukraine, border guards of the Rostov border guard unit and customs officers have found several dozen explosive charges, ten fuse-like devices, 20 capsules with a strong psychotropic agent, and other psychotropic agents," Lieutenant Colonel Sergey Livantsov, head of the North Caucasus Regional Border Guard Directorate press-service, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday.
According to him, the smuggled goods were confiscated by customs officers, while investigation is underway.
Livantsov also said that in 2003 border guard units of the North Caucasus Directorate apprehended over 30,000 people with false identifications. "Over 16,000 of them were foreign citizens, most of which were illegal migrants," he noted.
Border guard checkpoints also prevented foreign traders from inflicting RUB4.5m (USD157,723) worth of damage on Russia, and transferred RUB151.5m (USD5.3m) to the Russian budget. The economic efficiency of border guard units totaled over RUB170m (USD5.96m) and USD250,000, Livantsov said.