20 February, Vitebsk /Diana Kurilo - BELTA/. Smugglers in the Braslav district intended to transport cigarettes across the frozen Western Dvina River. In the night of February 19-20, Polotsk border guards thwarted another attempt to illegally move excisable goods across the border, Denis Glebko, Assistant Head of the Polotsk Border Guard Detachment for Media Relations, told a BELTA correspondent. In the Braslav district, near the state border, two citizens of Belarus and a resident of Latvia were detained. They intended to transport 2 boxes of "NZ" cigarettes (1000 packs) with Belarusian excise stamps. The Belarusians arrived at the border on foot, having previously disguised the cigarettes in the snow, and the citizen of Latvia crossed the border line on the ice across the frozen Western Dvina River. The border patrol prevented the criminal trio from carrying out their planned operation. At the moment when the pair of Belarusians were digging the cigarettes out of the snow, and the resident of Latvia was approaching them to transport the goods across the river, they were spotted and detained. An investigation is underway regarding this incident. The cigarettes have been handed over to customs officers. According to Denis Glebko, the citizen of Latvia will be brought to administrative responsibility for illegally crossing the state border, he will have to pay a fine of up to 50 base units (currently, the base unit is Br35 thousand), and then he will be deported to his homeland. The citizens of Belarus will be held responsible for violating the border regime, they face a fine of up to 20 base units. In addition, all three will have to bear responsibility for the attempt to illegally move excisable goods across the border. -0-

BELTA