Black-branded cheeses and instant coffees disappear from store shelves. Customs cannot say whether food is being taken across the border.
Bridge this week, HS has been reporting on food items disappearing from store shelves. In particular, certain products, such as instant coffee and black-stamped emmental cheese, are being seized from grocery stores.
K-Supermarket Lauttasaari merchant Ali Tikkala told HSthat all black-branded cheeses are always removed from the shelf. In the follow-up to HS it also emerged that instant coffee is exported from almost every store. Doubts were expressed that at least instant coffee would be transported professionally across the border.
Director of Customs Control Sami Rakshit says no ordinary food is exported at the border, which is taken out.
“We are free to take both cheese and instant coffee to Russia across the border. On the Finnish side, we only make observations and check only goods that are subject to prohibitions or restrictions. ”
However, traffic in Russia is not very busy at the moment, and ordinary passengers do not move there. On the Russian side, imports may be monitored, but between EU countries, private individuals are allowed to transport food without restriction. The export of products to Estonia, for example, cannot be ruled out.
“For us, I can only say that smuggling of those products is possible, but there is no indication,” Rakshit says.
Free of charge however, it is said that food smuggling and related laws are in some ways a hot potato. Illegal shipments are widespread, but everyday food is not involved, according to Rakshit.
Rakshit gives an enlightened Veikkaus on where the stolen products could end up.
“There are always those domestic networks through which stuff can be sold. If you take even five kilos of tenderloin from the store, then such a quantity is seldom needed for your own use. I don’t know if this could be the same phenomenon. ”
The mystery of black stamps remains open.
“This is a really special thing, especially when it comes to a certain brand and a certain product. Exports abroad do not sound logical in the case of a perishable product. At least those amounts cannot be large, ”Rakshit ponders.
Read more: The Lauttasaari store completely hid everyday cheese from its shelf because all the packages are stolen: “They must have a market … somewhere”
Read more: Lauttasaari’s cheese thefts may be explained by obscure “order gigs” – An experienced store detective assesses where the cheeses end up
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