Three Moldovan citizens are suspected of smuggling grapes with the assistance of an employee of the National Food Safety Agency. According to prosecutors, these brought about 20 tonnes of fresh grapes from Turkey into Moldova and then exported these to Russia as Moldovan after repacking the grapes and falsifying the documents, IPN reports.

Prosecutor Valeriu Bodean, of the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases, told a news conference that the suspects illegally obtained a false phytosanitary certificate concerning the origin of the merchandise from the chief inspector of the Chisinau local office of the National Food Safety Agency. This was attached to the customs declaration on the export of grapes.

As a result of a check at the Russian customs post Sudja, a phytosanitary virus typical of the tropical zones was identified in the consignment. Later, when returning to Moldova through the Tudora customs post, the batch of infected grapes was confiscated by employees of the Customs Service. One more consignment of about 65 tonnes of Turkish grapes that was to be taken to Russia was discovered as a result of investigations.

The grapes were assessed at about 2 million lei.

The suspects are investigated under house arrest. They face up to ten years in jail. The prosecutors do not rule out the possibility of involvement of officials of law enforcement bodies in these smuggling schemes.