Uzbek customs intercepts jewelry smuggling attempts at borders

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Customs authorities in Uzbekistan have detected and stopped multiple attempts to illegally transport jewelry across the border at the Navoiy and Oybek customs posts, the State Customs Committee reported.

At the Navoiy post, during the inspection of a pedestrian crossing the border, officers used a body scanner system and discovered jewelry items concealed in the leg area. The valuables were packaged into 53 separate bundles, with a total weight of 190 grams.

In another case at the Oybek post, an x-ray scanner revealed that a citizen was transporting 180.8 grams of jewelry hidden in the body cavity and not declared in the customs declaration.

In addition, at the same post, inspectors found another undeclared consignment of jewelry weighing 57.93 grams in the hand luggage of a separate passenger.

Preliminary estimates place the total value of the seized jewelry at approximately 525 million soums. Customs authorities are currently conducting pre-investigation checks into all identified cases.