On 10 September this year, the Customs Administration of the State Revenue Service (VID) prevented an attempt by a border crosser from Belarus to undeclaredly import cash amounting to EUR 44,115 at the customs checkpoint in Pāternieki, the VID said.
A Kazakh citizen entered the customs checkpoint from the Belarusian side in a Volkswagen passenger car.
The VID noted that, when starting the check, the customs officer asked whether the person was moving declarable goods or cash worth more than €10,000. The driver first replied in the negative, but after a moment clarified that he was moving some €7,000 in cash across the border.
A customs handler with a service dog trained to search for cash was called in to check the vehicle. When the dog identified a specific location in the vehicle, the driver was asked again about the cash crossing and this time he gave a much higher amount. During the in-depth controls, the driver was found in possession of €44,115 euros.
Having established the elements of a criminal offence, the case files were handed over to the Tax and Customs Police Directorate of the VID for a decision on initiating criminal proceedings for evasion of cash declaration. .
When crossing the Latvian border in places where it is also an external border of the European Union, any person is obliged to declare cash amounting to EUR 10,000 or more.
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