Since the beginning of the year, more than 276,000 vapes have been seized from illegal circulation in Kazakhstan. The Agency for Financial Monitoring is investigating 37 criminal cases, one of the largest in Astana, where the turnover of funds through the accounts of alleged scheme participants exceeded 3.2 billion tenge, reports infohub.kz.

According to the AFM, the capital's department is investigating the activities of a group involved in the illegal circulation of electronic consumption systems. Rented warehouses and offices were used for storing goods, and sales were carried out through online stores and messengers Telegram, WhatsApp, and Zangi.

Bank accounts of an individual entrepreneur were used to receive money. Buyers were asked to say, if questioned, that they had purchased household appliances.

"The volume of funds passing through the accounts exceeded 3.2 billion tenge. In total, since the beginning of the year, the agency has suppressed 25 facts of illegal vape sales. Currently, 37 criminal cases are being investigated. 14 cases against 18 people have been sent to court," the AFM reported.

In the Karaganda region, the organizers of an online vape store on Telegram were sentenced to two years and six months of restriction of freedom. According to the investigation, the scheme involved four warehouses, online store operators, and couriers.

During searches, about 30,000 electronic consumption systems worth 340 million tenge were seized.

Another verdict was issued in the Ulytau region. Two local residents sold vapes using a "dropper" scheme: money from buyers went to a bank account registered to a courier. Both received four years of restriction of freedom, and the criminal income was confiscated.

In total, since the beginning of the year, the AFM has seized more than 276,000 electronic consumption systems.

The agency also warns that illegal import, storage, transportation, and sale of electronic consumption systems, as well as legalization of income derived from them, entail criminal liability.

Earlier, Kursiv reported that in June 2026, the National Security Committee suppressed a major channel of vape smuggling on the Kazakh-Russian border. At the Kayrak checkpoint in the Kostanay region, 27,600 vapes worth about 500 million tenge were found in a truck. The materials were transferred to the competent authorities for investigation.