Former official aided Chinese smugglers

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, June 23 (UPI) -- A former high-ranking Russian official has been sentenced to five years for conspiring with Chinese firms to smuggle goods into Russia, authorities said.

Ernest Bakhshetsyan, the former head of the Far East Customs Directorate, was sentenced to prison Monday in Vladivostok Frunzensky District Court, The Moscow Times reported Tuesday.

Bakhshetsyan was convicted of abusing his position by allowing containers of consumer goods to enter Russia without customs inspection, the Times reported.

While Bakhshetsyan was in office, three Chinese firms, which were not publicly identified, avoided paying $14.5 million in customs duties on leather clothing, shoes, pearls and other undeclared luxury items smuggled into Russia, prosecutors said.

In a separate case, police last week arrested seven suspects alleged to have smuggled more than a million dollars in goods from China to Moscow's Cherkizovsky Market.