«It is worth lifting the moratorium on checks of excisable goods with a high risk of smuggling,» Deputy Chairman of the State Tax Service of Kyrgyzstan Nurlan Umtulov said at a round table to discuss the problems of illegal import of tobacco products into the territory of Kyrgyzstan.
According to him, 176,000 packs of illegal cigarettes have been confiscated in the republic over the past year. This figure increases every year. Most seizures take place at retail outlets during raids.
In turn, expert Azamat Bootaev noted that the fight against smuggling became more complicated after the disbandment of the Financial Police.
«The financial police purposefully worked against smuggled tobacco. They had a single database. The Tax Service has some data now, and some — the law enforcement agencies, the prosecutor’s office. This is very inconvenient in the fight against smuggling,» he said.
