A consignment of 20 tonnes of sugar that was smuggled from Ukraine into Moldova through the Transnistrian segment of the border was to be repacked and sold on the domestic market as local sugar. It was established that the sugar was initially packed in sacks in the Transnistrian region, where labels of national producers were attached to these, and was then to be sold on the internal market by using false certificates, IPN reports.

In a news conference, prosecutor Valeriu Bodean, of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases, said that three persons were involved in the illegal scheme. These received documents showing that the sugar to the value of 252,000 lei, as it was indicated in the certificates, was made in Moldova from the manager of a Chisinau company. With these documents, they were to transport the merchandise to Chisinau for being sold there.

The truck with contraband was stopped for a check by a mobile team of the Customs Service on the Anenii Noi – Chisinau road. The sugar and the unit of transport were seized. The three were remanded in custody. They face three to ten years behind bars.