The criminal case on smuggling of 179 boxes of “Ashima” cigarettes in Cahul, involving Border Police employees, was initiated with the documentation process carried out by the Security and Intelligence Service jointly with the Internal Protection and Anti-Corruption Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor's Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS). Throughout the investigation, the General Inspectorate of the Border Police was open for cooperation.
According to the conclusions of experts, the batch is worth approximately 1.6 million lei on the Moldovan market, and approximately 4.3 million lei on the European market (which was the initial destination of the criminal group). Thus, their illegal income would be about 2.7 million lei.
Numerous criminal proceedings were carried out regarding this case: more than 20 searches, more than 20 communication interceptions (including wiretapping), about 50 hearings of suspects and accused persons - in order to guarantee respect for their rights and to gather enough evidence for sending the case to court.
The criminal case, sent to court by the PCCOCS prosecutors, concerns 14 defendants, aged between 30 and 50 years. They are from Cahul and Chișinău, and three of them are border police officers: a former interim chief of the Border Police Sector “Cahul”, a former head of the “SOUTH” Regional Directorate, and a non-commissioned officer. According to the criminal law, the smuggling crime is punished with 4 to 10 years of imprisonment.
We remind that any person is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a final court ruling.