The Latvian State Security Service has today announced multiple raids and inspections took place last week in relation to an ongoing criminal investigation into plywood imports into Latvia where counterfeit documents mask the Russian or Belarusian origin of the products in favour of false origins in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan.
The importation of many timber products is prohibited under the EU’s Russian sanctions.
The report notes that the criminal proceedings were commenced in November 2023.
It is unclear whether this investigation in Latvia is related to a similar investigation into plywood imports being undertaken in Lithuania. See our earlier post.
UPDATE: The Latvian VDD has now provided some further clarification of the location of the raids including the premises in Valmiera of the Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.