A foreign national was detained in the Far East for attempting to bribe an officer over undeclared jewellery. Source: FCS Russia.
At Blagoveshchensk, customs detained a foreign national who tried to export 84 tagged jewellery items from Russian stores worth RUB 1 million without declaring them.
She initially claimed the pieces were for personal use and that she would claim VAT refund (Tax Free), but later admitted they were intended for resale.
To avoid liability she attempted to hand the inspector RUB 20,000; the officer refused and reported the incident to the anti-corruption unit.
Khabarovsk customs referred a criminal case for attempted bribery (Articles 30(3) and 291(3) of the Criminal Code). The suspect is under house arrest; the jewellery was seized for examination.
