On Saturday Lithuania’s Customs issued a press release announcing raids on a company based in Kaunas, and associated residential premises, with 11 people (employees, company managers, as well as drivers) detained and a dozen tons of equipment (valued at around €2 million) seized.
It is alleged the company was exporting to Russia via Bulgaria and Turkey based on a fictitious customer in Portugal. Contemporaneous raids were conducted in Bulgaria to seize a shipment that had already left Lithuania, and in Portugal at the premises of the Portuguese customer.
The operation was coordinated by Eurojust and Europol and with assistance from the Portuguese authorities.
The exports are described as “water treatment equipment (dosing stations, large industrial water filters (osmosis), etc.) and their components (various pumps, filters, membranes)”. The press release adds that the products were specifically designed for the Russian customer.