About 15 customs and border service officers have been detained in Kyrgyzstan on suspicion of facilitating smuggling. President Sadyr Japarov announced this at a meeting with residents of the Leilek district of Batken region, according to infohub.kz.
According to the head of state, he reviewed hidden camera footage from the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) showing officers regularly taking bribes from drivers to allow goods across the border. Japarov described the situation as a "conveyor belt": a driver would pull up, the customs officer would take the money and put it in his pocket, and then the border guard would do the same.
At the meeting, a GKNB representative confirmed that the detainees are in custody.
The president recalled that since 2020 he has demanded that the customs and border services crack down on smuggling. All imported goods must undergo clearance, and legally required payments must go to the budget.
"If every village engages in smuggling, how will we grow the economy and where will we get the funds to address the issues you raise?" he emphasized.
Earlier, the GKNB of the Kyrgyz Republic shut down a stable corruption group operating at the "Ak-Tilek – road" checkpoint (on the Kazakh side, the "Karasu" checkpoint). During operational-search activities, security forces established that officials had organized a scheme for the illegal and unimpeded passage of commercial cargo across the state border.
According to the special service, officers of the border service and the EAEU department of the State Tax Service, for monetary reward, drove heavy trucks with commercial goods from Kazakhstan into Kyrgyzstan.
At the same time, according to official documents and reports, the loaded trucks were listed as completely empty vehicles.
As part of the criminal investigation, GKNB officers detained four participants in the scheme: a serviceman of the Border Service, officers of the EAEU State Tax Service for the northern region D..M.T. and O.K.I., and a heavy truck driver N.M.S.
Earlier, "Kursiv" wrote that since the beginning of 2026, there were 200 attempts to enter Kazakhstan using forged or someone else's passports. All violations were prevented by border guards of the National Security Committee of the Republic of Kazakhstan.