The Customs Committee of Uzbekistan showed its work at border posts from the inside

To the country of Oz from the back door

Meeting place in the steppe. In a couple of years, a park will be built here.

There is nothing offensive to see in Aktau. Typical monuments to the Second World War, nuclear workers and newly built mosques do not count. Having traveled tens of kilometers through the central microdistricts, I slept and moved to the Mangistau station.

Civilization ended in the morning. Beineu station is a vague stop without a station. A foggy and cool, sleepy city, through which rare trucks waddle along the snow-white remains of asphalt from cement dust. The outlines of camels appear like unexpected hedgehogs from the dust-tinted fog, and it’s not particularly appealing to get acquainted with them in the middle of the steppe. The only tolerable section of the route without holes and animals is a little over seven kilometers away.

Of course, you can take the night train from Aktau to Nukus and not bother. But I really wanted, on the one hand, to rest after long flights and, on the other hand, not to wait for the train until the next night. Hitchhiking two hundred kilometers to the Uzbek border seemed not the worst option.

And indeed, with two cars, with short waits, even taking into account the complete absence of a road, I reached the Daut-Ata customs crossing over steppe potholes in three hours.

Along the way, I noticed frequently overtaken tourist buses with license plates from the Moscow region and a number of Russian regions. Where? What are they doing here?

The answer...oh, the answer to these questions should have been seen! I regret that I didn’t take a couple of pictures, I was afraid of the wrath of the Uzbek border guards.

Hundreds of migrant workers have gathered in a corridor-type iron cage under the scorching sun. With bags, boxes, trunks, spare parts. The high construction season is over - time to visit relatives and extend your right to stay.

And the cheapest way home is by bus through Astrakhan and Beineu.

I would never have thought that buses to Bukhara do not go through Tashkent. The journey of a migrant worker in his peak season. Barbed wire, no water, no toilet. An endless farce with swearing, jostling and fighting. Border guards who defiantly took a two-hour lunch break.

The worst thing is for those who were traveling for the first time. They were told that their luggage would remain on the bus and they even took money for it. But at the border, everything acquired through back-breaking labor is dumped on the ground and forced to be carried through the checkpoints. Five or more huge bags each. And somewhere behind, for a week, cars have been standing at the border, loaded with old refrigerators, microwaves, furniture, and tools. Everything heavy that was collected for a symbolic price tag or free of charge, for pickup, goes, and also for money, to new homes.

Such cars with huge homemade trailers come from every major city. Guest workers, through advertisements, find unnecessary equipment, take it away from the owners who want to get rid of heavy rubbish, and take it home, because equipment in Uzbekistan is rare and very expensive. A convoy of improvised trucks is on the road for 3–4 weeks; liquid junk may remain at customs altogether. But people take risks; sometimes this is the only way to deliver a spacious refrigerator or water heater to a distant steppe village.

Bills are stuffed into pockets. First give the customs officer 500, it won’t work - 1000. Just in case, 50 dollars, in a secret pocket.

Someone's flimsy snake on the Chinese plaid has broken again, and the crowd is already running through the bag, because for a couple of minutes the passage has opened and there is a chance for 20-30 people to get through.

It's easier for me with a backpack. You can try to infiltrate with a red passport, but the crowd on the front line is very dense and aggressive.

After 6 hours of standing, I go into the customs building.

Before customs, I help two guys from Ufa fill out declarations. They are going to Kungrad for work and offer to chip in for a taxi. I understand that the dream of getting to Nukus is unrealistic, and the fellow travelers are interesting, we are going together.

But you still have to get to customs. The total inability of the Uzbeks to self-organize leads to conflict with the border guards. The crowd storms the border control, soldiers intervene and throw the stormers aside. Bags, equipment and bodies are flying from the stairs. The border post doors are closing.

Surprisingly, the trio of Russians find themselves in the front row. Apparently, the locals hope that foreigners will not be beaten and thrown down the steps. In general, yes, but this fact did not help the Uzbeks. They notice us and lead us through the side door to the empty border control. In the customs hall after seven hours in the crowd, your head is ringing from the deafening silence.

Seven o'clock. On my feet, without food or water. Well, my fellow travelers are frequent guests in Uzbekistan. We quickly change the currency, find a car, negotiate a normal price tag and take half a box of cold beer. The road is not a fountain, but at least some asphalt, which after the Kazakh pistas seems like happiness.

The Customs Committee of Uzbekistan showed its work at border posts from the inside

TASHKENT.
KAZINFORM - In order to develop good-neighborly, fraternal relations, as well as mutually beneficial cooperation between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan (SCC) conducted a familiarization press tour of the border customs post "Gishtkuprik", and also provided some data on the created conditions for Kazakh and Uzbek entrepreneurs at the border and customs posts of the two countries. You can learn about all this in our material from Kazinform’s own correspondent in Uzbekistan. In particular, it should be noted that for the first time the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan provides the opportunity to look at the work of customs services from the inside in sensitive facilities. In this regard, it will be interesting to familiarize yourself with some facts and statistics. Thus, the border and customs point “Gishtkuprik” is one of the largest crossings between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. On the Kazakh side, the same post is called “Zhibek-Zholy”; it is also popularly known as “Chernyaevka”. In total, there are 9 functioning customs posts between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, of which 6 are road: “Daut ata - Tazhen” (Karakalpakstan), “Gishtkuprik - Zhibek-Zholy”, “S.Nadzhimov - Kazygurt”, “Navoi - Kaplanbek” , “Yallama - B. Konysbaeva”, as well as “Syr Darya - Atameken”.

Along with this, in 2021, 7.8 million individuals moved through the Gishtkuprik crossing, and the number of vehicles passed was 141 thousand. In total, 16.2 million citizens moved through 6 checkpoints between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan over the past year, and vehicles passed funds amounted to 718.1 thousand units.

Also, last year, about 40 types of goods were exported from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan for a total amount of 1 billion 487 million US dollars. 38 types of goods worth 1 billion 900 million US dollars were imported from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan. At the same time, according to the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, for the entire 2021, foreign trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan reached just under $3.4 billion, which is $638 million more than in 2018.

At the same time, there are also facts of violations when moving goods and cargo between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. According to the State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in 2021 alone, 162 cases of smuggling and violations of the rules for transporting goods were recorded, and starting from January 2021, 21 such illegal actions have already been identified.

The most common items smuggled across the Kazakh-Uzbek border are jewelry and biologically active additives (BAA). There are also cases of transportation of exotic animals for the purpose of their further sale. In particular, last year smugglers were detained who were trying to transport baby orangutans and black-handed gibbons to Kazakhstan; they even tried to smuggle the latter in their pockets. In addition, unusual methods of delivering contraband to the adjacent territory are recorded. Thus, in September last year, a flying drone was landed, transporting by air across the Kazakh-Uzbek border prohibited drugs - tramadol, in the amount of 600 tablets.

Active work is also underway within the framework of bilateral cooperation between the customs authorities of the two countries. To date, 1 intergovernmental and 15 interdepartmental agreements in the customs field have been signed between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

In addition, from January 1 of this year, a simplified procedure for collecting customs duties at border customs posts was introduced between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. These innovations will reduce the costs of citizens importing goods for personal use, as well as simplify customs payments and eliminate congestion at border control points.

The State Customs Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan notes that the ongoing work to strengthen cooperation with Kazakhstan will lead to increased activity at border customs posts. In this regard, a Roadmap was signed between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan for the reconstruction and modernization of checkpoints, highways and the development of the adjacent territory on the Kazakh-Uzbek state border.

Address : Nukus city, T. Kayipbergenova street 57.

Index: 230100

Telephone:

Helpline:

Email address:

Landmark: Nukus Central Market

Transport means to the customs office 8, 14, 28, 34, 54, 67 – minibuses.

The Republic of Karakalpakstan is part of the Republic of Uzbekistan. It is located in the north-west of the country, on the coasts of the Amu Darya. Currently, 1 million 736.5 thousand people live in the Republic of Karakalpakstan.

The capital Nukus is located 1255 kilometers from the city of Tashkent. The Republic of Karakalpakstan borders Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Karakalpakstan has a rich history. There are 255 objects of historical and cultural heritage located on the territory of the Republic.

Currently, on the territory of Karakalpakstan there are

8 customs posts, 5 of them are adjacent, and 3 are “foreign trade” posts.

One of the border customs posts, the Karakalpakstan railway customs post, is located in the village of Karakalpakstan, which is on the Ustyurt plateau, 430 kilometers from the city of Nukus. Transit trains of the Tajikistan Railway Company and several freight trains move here on 2 routes.

At the Karakalpakstan customs post, customs inspection and clearance of passengers and their hand luggage and goods transported on these railway transports is carried out.

Customs post employees carry out customs inspection and clearance of 3-4 passenger trains and 1700-1800 passengers and their carry-on luggage traveling on these trains and 4-5 freight trains per day.

Another border customs post “Davutota” is located on the Ustyurt plateau, 450 kilometers from the city of Nukus. At the “Davut-ota” customs post, customs inspection and clearance of vehicles, citizens and their hand luggage moving across the state border are carried out. 85-90 freight vehicles, 80-90 passenger vehicles and 1100-1200 citizens move through this post per day.

Note: In the absence of the chief, reception is carried out by deputy chiefs; in the absence of deputy chiefs, reception is carried out by the heads of the relevant departments.

A “transit operation” worth 10 billion soums was prevented in Uzbekistan

As a result of a large-scale operational activity carried out by employees of the Main Directorate for Combating Smuggling and Customs Audit of the State Customs Committee in cooperation with the customs departments of Andijan and Tashkent regions, a transit operation was identified for the illegal and hidden from customs control import of inventory items.

According to the offenders’ plan, cargo vehicles loaded with inventory items initially arrived on the territory of our state through the border customs post “Daut-ata” of the Republic of Karakalpakstan, the Customs Committee reports. After the trucks arrived in the Tashkent region, all goods were unloaded and replaced with other goods. Then, according to the plan, the trucks were supposed to leave the country through the Dustlik border customs post of the Andijan Regional Customs Department.

At the border customs post “Dustlik” of the Andijan Regional Customs Department, customs control was carried out using an inspection and inspection complex for two cargo vehicles that arrived late at night in order to travel to a neighboring state.

As a result, discrepancies were identified between the information contained in the shipping documents provided by the drivers and the images displayed on the system display. According to the documents, one of the cars was supposed to contain 11 varieties of goods and the other 14.

However, having seen during customs inspection that the cars were loaded with construction supplies and goods with a relatively low customs value such as polyurethane foam, glue, special clothing and gloves for builders, rubber boots and hammers, one could easily guess that the cars were loaded with these goods for appearance only!

Here the question arises: did these trucks really arrive on the territory of our republic with goods worth 48 million 771 thousand soums?

Was there a need to transport goods from such a distance, the cost of which ultimately exceeds several times the cost of real goods?

In fact, these vehicles entered the country on October 16 of this year through the border customs post “Daut-ata” of the Customs Department of the Republic of Karakalpakstan.

In the documents presented to the customs authorities upon entry, and in the images displayed on the display of the inspection complex system during the inspection, the customs post employees did not identify anything suspicious.

This means that the goods declared in the documents were actually in these vehicles at that time.

However, comparing the images obtained during customs inspection when vehicles enter and exit the republic, and seeing obvious differences, a logical question arises: where are the goods indicated in the documents?

Answers to questions were received during a large-scale operational event. As it turned out, the goods were unloaded at one of the warehouses located in the Zangiotinsky district of the Tashkent region.

When inspecting the warehouse, the foreign citizen who was there at that time declares that the cargo belongs to him. However, the citizen was unable to provide any documents confirming the customs clearance of the goods.

It was established that the doors of the vehicle trailers did not open and even the existing seals were not damaged. It turned out that in order to replace goods, the trailers were arbitrarily opened from the other side to avoid suspicion.

Thus, customs officers identified and prevented the illegal unloading within the country of 9,113 units of inventory items of 24 varieties, the total value of which was 6 billion 502 million soums.

As a result of the operational activity, inventory items and vehicles with a total value of more than 9 billion 850 million soums were seized from the offenders and placed in temporary storage.

Currently, customs checks and investigative actions are being carried out on the identified fact.