Four residents of the Abai region have been sentenced to imprisonment for stealing laptops and games consoles from transit freight containers travelling through Kazakhstan to the countries of Western Europe. The total material damage to the cargo owners amounted to KZT 632.9 million.
HOW THE GROUP OPERATED
According to the transport police department (DP), four residents of the Abai region repeatedly broke into freight train containers and stole expensive equipment. According to the investigation, they acted in prior conspiracy.
One of the incidents occurred in May 2025 at Torpaldy station in the Zhetysu region. 1,019 laptops were stolen from a container travelling on the China — Poland route. Some of the equipment was subsequently sold in Almaty.
WHAT THE DAMAGE AMOUNTED TO
As a result of the thefts, the companies that owned the cargo suffered material damage totalling KZT 632.9 million.
During the pre-trial investigation, transport police carried out investigative actions and seized part of the stolen equipment.
WHAT PUNISHMENT THE COURT IMPOSED
The Alakol district court of the Zhetysu region found the four defendants guilty of theft committed on an especially large scale.
The convicted persons were sentenced to imprisonment for terms of up to 6 years 7 months.
CONTEXT
In January 2025, it became known that goods worth more than KZT 200 million had been stolen from containers arriving from China. According to the investigation, employees of a temporary storage warehouse in Almaty used information about the contents of containers, stole the goods and sold them at local markets. A criminal case was investigated in respect of the suspects.
In September 2025, in the Karaganda region, authorities shut down the activities of a group suspected of systematically stealing diesel fuel from railway rolling stock. Law enforcement officers established 28 incidents, detained 17 people and seized about half a tonne of diesel fuel.
