29 December, Vitebsk /BELTA/. Over 18 tonnes of bananas worth more than Br165 million were detained by Belarusian customs officers at the border with Russia, BELTA was informed by the Vitebsk Customs. During a special operation conducted by officers of the Vitebsk Customs' Department for Combating Smuggling and Administrative Customs Offences, with the participation of officers from the inter-district department for servicing Novopolotsk, Polotsk and Polotsk District of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, a Renault truck with a refrigerated semi-trailer was detained at the Belarusian-Russian border section in the Rossony District. The truck was travelling from the territory of Russia with a consignment of "fresh bananas" – 1,000 boxes, weighing 18,340 kg. The sender of the goods was a limited liability company from Smolensk, and the carrier was a farm enterprise from the Brest Region. Upon checking the documents presented by the driver, it was established that the import of the "fresh bananas" consignment into the territory of Belarus from Russia and its further movement within Belarus were carried out without a phytosanitary certificate, and the recipient of the goods indicated in the accompanying documents was not registered in Belarus. The documents presented by the driver were seized during the inspection. The goods, with a preliminary value exceeding Br165 million, have been detained. Investigative measures are being carried out within the framework of administrative proceedings, as stipulated by Part 4 of Article 12.17 of the Code of Administrative Offences of Belarus. -0-

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