The Department of the Financial Monitoring Agency (AFM) in Astana has uncovered a large wholesale network involved in the illegal trade of electronic nicotine delivery systems (vapes), flavourings, and liquids for them.
According to the agency's press office, the products were distributed across all regions using the Telegram messenger and courier delivery. As a result of operational and investigative measures, 5 warehouses were identified.
During a search, police seized more than 490,000 vapes, the revenue from the sale of which could exceed 6 billion tenge.
Furthermore, the suspects organised a money laundering scheme using money mules — straw individuals on whose names bank cards were registered to cash out large sums and conceal their criminal origin.
The organiser directed part of the criminal proceeds towards concluding deals for the supply of coffee from abroad totalling more than 92 million tenge.
By court order, the vehicle used to deliver the prohibited products was seized.
The organisers of the illegal business have been placed on a wanted list, and a pre-trial detention measure has been selected for them. The investigation is ongoing.
It is worth recalling that in July, the AFM Department for the Aktobe Region and the Border Service of Kazakhstan prevented an attempt to illegally import vapes. At the «Zhaisan-Automobile» border crossing point, two trucks travelling from Russia were detained.
A large batch of prohibited products was discovered in the vehicles: 13,000 vapes, 2,000 units of vape liquid, and 14,000 units of non-combustible tobacco products. In connection with this incident, the court sentenced two individuals to 6 months' imprisonment.