Police swooped in and arrested six people over the snacks after they found the criminals were sneaking in the “forbidden” dairy products.
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Russian police said Tuesday they have busted an worldwide ring involved in producing contraband cheese worth about 2 billion rubles ($30 million), arresting six people.
Following the most recent crackdown, police claim the cheese, which was sold under counterfeit labels, had made its way into grocery stores in St Petersburg, as well as in the Moscow and Leningrad regions.
Two of the ring’s organisers and four other participants, aged 29 to 58, have been detained and face up to 10 years in prison for “especially large-scale fraud by an organised group”, police said.
But that has not put off officials and Russia’s general prosecutor on Tuesday launched a hotline for citizens to report illicit Western cheeses and pates to the authorities. Authorities have warned that the embargoed products could prove harmful.
Officials insist the destruction of Western food is a health issue – rather than political – saying that most products supplied illicitly in contravention of sanctions are of dubious quality.
Small amounts of Western food brought into the country for private consumption are still permitted.
In recent weeks, in tacit acknowledgment that the import ban has been widely violated, the national agricultural oversight agency has been publicizing the destruction of tons of contraband food. The Russian agricultural agency Rosselkhoznadzor destroyed 600 metric tons of food between then and August 17, it said on its website Monday.
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China too has cut supplies of foods to Russia, from 418,000 to 390,000 tons, although last year Chinese businesses were planning to replace European fruits and vegetables on the Russian market. Footage of the food being destroyed with bulldozers and steam rollers sparked an outcry from the public, with a petition raised demanding that it instead be used to feed the poor.
