Primorye Customs Foils Smuggling of 150 Tortoises

VLADIVOSTOK. May 25. VOSTOK-MEDIA - Customs officers at Blagoveshchensk-Heihe border checkpoint sniffed out a box containing 1.2-kg of tobacco in a baggage of a Chinese national, who was entering Russia.

Officials said the tobacco doesn’t contain any narcotic substances and does not pose any threat to health. The tobacco was later handed over to the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance because smoking mixtures are not permitted to be imported to Russia.

On the same day, Blagoveshchensk Customs found 150 tortoises in a baggage of yet another Chinese national traveling to Russia. The tortoises were also handed over to the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, a spokesman for the Far Eastern Customs Service told Vostok-Media.