DUSHANBE, July 14, 2016, Asia-Plus – Officers of the Customs Service’s office in Sughd province have seized a large consignment of contraband fabric and clothes smuggled into the province out of neighboring Kyrgyzstan.

According to the Customs Service press center, inspection of vehicles on the Tajik-Kyrgyz border in the Bobojonghafourov district found a large amount of undeclared fabric and clothes worth more than 241,000 somoni in a truck.  The contraband fabric and clothes reportedly belonged to a 28-year-old local resident.        

Criminal proceedings have been instituted under the provisions of Article 289 (1) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – smuggling; an investigation is under way.

Article 289 (1) stipulates that a large-scale smuggling is punishable by a fine ranging from 10,000 to 36,000 somoni or by up to five years in prison.