Argentina's General Directorate of Customs (DGA) dismantled smuggling operations worth more than $750 million during the first eight months of 2020, the agency reported on Sunday.
In a statement, it specified that packages of cigarettes, clothing, electronic items and car parts They stand out among the goods seized by customs personnel during the controls and inspections carried out by the agency headed by Silvia Traverso.
He also highlighted that they were kidnapped watches, glasses, perfumes and makeup, mostly for crimes such as trademark fraud or smuggling.
Through customs control, the agency aims to protect consumers, the local production network, safeguard public health and national defense.
From January to August, the DGA seized more than 600.000 packets of cigarettes and another 20.000 electronic cigarettes.
The seizure of cell phones and accessories such as screens, cables and batteries totaled more than 100.000 units.
Customs explained that the seized merchandise has three possible destinations: donation, auction or destruction.
On the one hand, merchandise that aims to cover basic needs or that for some reason may be useful to comply with public policies is made available to the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Nation, which is then the one who decides the recipient of each donation.
If, on the other hand, the seized merchandise is permitted for import into the country, but is not a basic necessity or useful for public policy, it must be auctioned.
Finally, if the seized products are for the crime of trademark fraud, they must be destroyed.
The Customs stood out among the main operations carried out this year one in the province of Santa Cruz, in the El Calafate Airport, where nine high-end Triumph motorcycles, a pickup truck and a motorcycle trailer were seized, which were brought into the country illegally.
The agency pointed out that the motorcycles, of Brazilian origin, were declared for personal use, such as tourist trips.
But the DGA investigation determined that they were actually used for commercial purposes, by people who came from Brazil to take tourist tours in the south of the country and from Chile, who picked up the motorcycles at the El Calafate airport.
Another operation was carried out in the Christ the Redeemer Passage, in Uspallata, Mendoza, where the DGA seized 119.000 packets of cigarettes hidden in a truck that attempted to leave the country towards Chile.
The merchandise was hidden in a truck carrying dry noodles and was detected by DGA personnel, who noticed that the seal had been breached and scanned the cargo.
On port of Rosario, DGA personnel seized undeclared motorcycle parts and spares worth an estimated $29 million hidden in a container from China. The container was carrying 240 doors, metal frames and 2.000 polyurethane containers.
Among the seized merchandise are 500 motorcycle engine cylinders, 200 digital dashboards, 40 metal fuel tanks, 120 500-cylinder electric motors and 9.500 bicycle tires.
A significant part of the procedures was carried out by the customs of the northeast of Argentina, a region that includes those located in the provinces of Corrientes, Misiones, Chaco and Formosa, and has under its jurisdiction 61 of the 154 border crossings where the DGA is present.
Source: Telam Agency
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