MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti) – Two Russian women have been amnestied after they were caught attempting to smuggle 210 kilograms (460 pounds) of silver jewelry from Italy using forged documents, investigators said on Friday.
According to the investigation, the women, from Moscow, purchased jewelry worth 8.5 million rubles (almost $266,000) from an Italian company in January 2012 and tried to bring it to Russia without paying customs duties.
Last March, the two women were held at a checkpoint in Russia’s Pskov Region close to the Latvian border, while trying to enter Russia with the undeclared silver. They had attempted to avoid paying duty by using forged documents declaring their goods as the personal luggage of a fictional diplomat serving with the Russian Embassy in Germany.
The suspects pleaded guilty and paid over 3.5 million rubles in customs duties. They were pardoned under Russia’s economic amnesty for white-collar criminals introduced last month.
