A batch of Kalashnikov assault rifles was seized at the post office in Vnukovo (part of Moscow) – the police are identifying the addressee and sender of the cargo. Meanwhile, attempts to send illegal goods through legal postal channels are registered daily. What participants in criminal schemes most often try to send to each other and what kind of responsibility awaits attackers, Izvestia found out.
dangerous goods
Presumably, four Kalashnikov assault rifles were detained in a warehouse in a post office in Moscow.
“During checking mail using specialized screening equipment in one of the sorting centers in the Moscow region, Russian Post security service specialists identified a parcel with items structurally similar to weapons,” the Russian Post press service explained.
According to the Izvestia source, the parcel was found in the center, located in the village of Markushkinskoye. Items that looked like weapons were in a shopping bag, tied with tape and straps. The police have already sent the find for examination, which will finally establish whether the seized samples are firearms.
ordinary story
When checking shipments, items and substances whose circulation is limited or completely prohibited are regularly seized.
“Quite often, we are faced with an attempt to send drugs and their precursors by mail, we can also talk about international shipments,” a police source told Izvestia. – A few years ago, the shipment of small arms in parts became widespread, often in this way they tried to deliver pistols of Western brands for subsequent assembly and sale in Russia. In some cases, documents were made stating that the weapons were blanked.
According to him, another category of goods that are trying to be illegally delivered by mail is “spyware” equipment.
– Until now, not all citizens know that the purchase, shipment, receipt of various hidden cameras, “bugs”, wristwatches with built-in video recorders are prohibited in Russia. Recipients of such goods from various foreign sites are regularly detained.
How to open
If, when receiving a packaged postal item, there is an assumption that it contains objects and substances prohibited for shipment, a company employee may require the sender to present the contents for inspection, explains Victoria Tyutyunnikova, a member of the Russian Bar Association.
— The Company has the right to detain postal items, the contents of which are prohibited for forwarding, at the place of their discovery. Temporary storage of such postal items is carried out in the production premises of the company with accurate accounting and safety. The possibility of access to them by unauthorized persons is excluded, – the lawyer said.
An emergency is reported to the police or the FSB. If there are poisonous animals or plants in the suspicious cargo, then veterinarians and representatives of phytosanitary control bodies are also involved.
“The list of restrictions on the transfer of items and substances in international postal items, the procedure for seizing items and substances prohibited from being sent from these items and destroying them are established in accordance with the customs legislation of the Customs Union within the framework of the EurAsEC, international treaties and laws of the Russian Federation,” says Tyutyunnikova.
The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation establishes liability for the transfer of weapons and ammunition in accordance with Art. 222, explosives – art. 222.1. For sending drugs by mail, depending on the circumstances, liability is provided for under Art. 228.1 or under Art. 229.1 (in case of smuggling illegal drugs). Each of the mentioned violations of the code (with the exception of part 1 of article 222 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) is classified as grave, and if there are qualifying signs (for example, if committed by a group of persons by prior agreement) – especially grave crimes.
Drugs by regions
Drug dealers are not stopped by the risk that part of the cargo will be arrested – even if part of the supplies reach the final destination, they will already remain in the black. The other day, a successful operation against criminals who used legal airmail was carried out by the police. The laboratory for the production of synthetic drugs itself was located in the Moscow region (capacity – up to 10 kg of “chemistry” per week).
“It was planned to sell criminal goods with the help of caches, bookmarks and postal items. One of them was sent to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky by airmail. More than 800 g of N-methylephedron were hidden in baby food packages. After receiving the parcel at the post office, the police detained two local residents. According to investigators, they intended to divide the wholesale batch into single doses and sell it in a contactless way, ”said the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Irina Volk.
The settlements of the Far East and the Far North most often suffer from postal “drug deliveries”.
“A port and an airfield are often the only routes to hard-to-reach regions of the country,” said a source in the anti-drug division of the police. – First of all, we are talking about the Far East. Performers are sought out through advertisements, as well as hoarders; it is done remotely. Here, who is much more than that – they themselves come up with schemes. But such “smugglers” come across regularly.
In the “zone” special attention
Often parcels with prohibited items, including drugs, are tried to be sent to places of deprivation of liberty. Usually they are trying to hide them in legal goods and products. So, at the end of April, FSIN officers found drugs in parcels with dried fruits.
“During the inspection of a parcel intended for one of the convicts, employees of the Novgorod IK-4 found and seized three brown foreign objects hidden in a clever way in dates,” the agency said in a statement.
According to a former employee of the department, they are trying to hide drugs among other food products, but these days, criminals are also adopting the most modern technologies, in particular drones.
— Such cargoes are inspected especially carefully. The same goes for candy. There were cases when narcotic substances along with paint were applied to greeting cards. But after the scheme was revealed, the practice stopped. All of this was by mail. Today, the illegal supply of prisoners is most often carried out with the help of drones. This is a problem that the department is trying to solve today.
