Under the coordination of Kazakhstan’s Turkestan Region Prosecutor’s Office and in cooperation with Uzbek law enforcement, authorities dismantled a criminal group and shut down a tunnel used for smuggling petroleum products.
One tunnel, stretching 450 meters between the two countries, was used to smuggle 5–7 tons of fuel and lubricants daily. The smuggling operation had been active for two months before being brought to an end. Investigations revealed that a well-organized transnational criminal group was behind the tunnel, using it to facilitate the illicit transfer of goods and funds between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Meanwhile, Uzbekistan’s State Security Service (DXX) uncovered another illegal underground tunnel on the Tashkent-Kazakhstan border. Working in coordination with the Tashkent-Aero customs complex, border troops, and military personnel, the DXX exposed a cross-border smuggling operation involving large quantities of substandard drugs imported from India into Uzbekistan via Kazakhstan.
In a related case, a similar underground passage was discovered in April in Kyrgyzstan’s Jalal-Abad region. This tunnel was being used to smuggle people and contraband goods into Uzbekistan.
