At the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, the competent authorities of the United Arab Emirates will extradite Sergey Kabenko for him to face criminal charges under Article 171.1, Part 6, subparagraphs “a” and “b” (storage and transportation of unmarked tobacco products for sale), Article 200.2, Part 3 (smuggling of tobacco products), and Article 327.1, Part 6, subparagraphs “a” and “b” (use of knowingly counterfeit special (excise) stamps for marking tobacco products) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

According to the investigation, in 2018, Kabenko set up a scheme to illegally transport, store, and sell unmarked tobacco products. Together with his accomplices, he placed the contraband in covered rail cars and arranged for it to be shipped into Russia disguised as wheat bran. Law enforcement intercepted the shipment. The seized tobacco had a market value of over 540 million rubles.

Since the accused had fled from the preliminary investigation authorities, a preventive measure of detention was imposed on him in absentia. At the instruction of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office, he was placed on the international wanted list.

A request for Kabenko’s extradition was sent following his detention in the UAE.

Thanks to the coordinated efforts of the Russian supervisory authority and the competent authorities of the UAE, a positive decision on extradition was achieved.