Four individuals have been sentenced for organising a large-scale smuggling operation through underground tunnels beneath the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border, according to Uzbekistan’s State Security Service (SGB).
Three residents of Andijan Region were each sentenced to five years in prison for violating customs laws. A fourth member of the group, a Kyrgyz citizen,received a six-year prison sentence.
The smugglers had built two underground tunnels connecting the Uzbek city of Khanabad to the village of Bekabad in Kyrgyzstan’s Jalal-Abad Region. The tunnels were 15 meters deep, and the longest extended nearly 350 meters.
These clandestine routes illegally transported mobile phones, electronic devices and gold across the border. Authorities estimate the total value of smuggled goods at 7.5 bn soums (approx. $590,000).
During the investigation, law enforcement confiscated 1,400 mobile phones, hundreds of chargers and power cables and 1.7 kilograms of gold and jewellery. The state seized the homes of the convicted individuals, and the tunnels have since been filled in.
Kursiv Uzbekistan reports on a similar smuggling tunnel discovered along the Uzbek-Kazakh border.
