According to a report by NUR.KZ on January 11th, it has been revealed that two foreign citizens have recently been found guilty in Kazakhstan's Kostanay region for illegally bringing in nicotine-containing e-cigarette kits and tobacco blends. These individuals introduced smoking devices as civilian commodities without paying the required excise and value-added taxes.
The news clearly states that A.B. Ryabuchkov and G.V. Lyeikin have been illegally importing nicotine-containing e-cigarette boxes and tobacco mixtures from Russia since 2022, and these products have been sold in Kazakhstan without the appropriate markings and taxes. These illegal goods have made their way into the region and its neighboring areas.
Two men have been arrested by officials from the Akmola region in Kazakhstan for importing and selling a large batch of e-cigarettes worth a total of 35.2 million tenge (approximately $78,000). Following their arrest, Ryabushkov and Leikin were fined by the court.
In past cases, individuals attempted to smuggle nearly one million packs of cigarettes from Iran to Almaty disguised as light bulbs. In the summer, two trucks loaded with a total of 1.3 billion tenge (approximately $2.88 million) worth of smuggled cigarettes attempted to enter Kazakhstan from Kyrgyzstan but were intercepted by local authorities. In December 2023, over 1.5 million packs of unidentified and unmarked cigarettes were destroyed in Uralsk following a court ruling, with a total value of 967 million tenge (approximately $2.14 million). These cases reflect Kazakhstan's strict stance against the illegal importation of tobacco products.
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