Police discover new cases of smuggling expired food

A minibus loaded with 5 tonnes of poultry worth 120,000 lei was stopped by officers of the Ministry of the Interior. The merchandise smuggled into Moldova through the Transnistrian region in a boat over the Nistru was to be sold on Chisinau markets, Info-Prim Neo reports. “Most of the contraband goods are smuggled from Ukraine. The destabilization of the economic situation in the neighboring country led to a reduction in prices and the value of currency, which became more attractive for our people,” Marcel Tabarcea, the deputy head of the Interior Ministry’s Division for the Prevention and Combating of Cybernetic, Information and Translational Offences, told a news conference on March 17. According to Tabarcea, the persons that live near the state border buy goods in Ukraine and smuggle them into Moldova, crossing the border for several times a day. Most of the times, the shelf life of the food products is expired. “These goods are smuggled daily in small quantities and stored in clandestine depots,” Marcel Tabarcea said. Thirty-four cases of smuggling goods to the value of 749,000 lei have been discovered between February 17 and March 15. The contraband includes mainly food products, alcoholic drinks and electrical appliances. Recently, the police seized 700 kilograms of expired hard cheese found under the seats of a passenger minibuses working on the Glodeni-Chisinau route.