Employees of the National Anticorruption Center and prosecutors established that ambler that was most probably brought form Ukraine was smuggled through Moldova to China. Recently, the police thwarted an attempt to smuggle 1,000 kg of amber by plane to Turkey and then to the final destination, IPN reports.

Prosecutor Ion Munteanu told a news conference that the 1,000 kg amber is the largest amount of such stones ever seized on Moldova’s territory. As Moldova does not have resources of amber, it is presumed that it was used as a transit country.

Ruslan Flocea, of National Anticorruption Center, said the investigations started after they were furnished with information according to which Moldovan citizens forming part of a transfrontier group were smuggling semiprecious stones. It was determined that valuable stones were smuggled to Chinua through Moldova and Turkey. About 7,000 kg of amber passed through Moldova and partially reached the final destination.

Five suspects were arrested in this case. It is presumed that economic entities and functionaries of the Chisinau International Airport responsible for baggage search as well as high-ranking officials had been involved in this business. No other details were provided yet.

According to the police, 1 kg of amber costs between €1,500 and €4,000.