German police station bankrupt dealer exports for illegal secret exports to Russia
German police raided the alleged car ring on Wednesday that illegally sold high-end German vehicles to Russia, violating strict EU sanctions.
A 46-year-old Belarusian woman was arrested and five vehicles were caught as part of a raid targeting Berlin and the Landkut region of southern Germany in Bavaria.
Prosecutors in Berlin said they believed the woman was a flight risk and would ask the magistrate to order her to be detained as the case progressed.
Police said that according to the investigation, 192 cars with a total value of about 21.4 million euros ($26.3 million) were involved.
In addition to the woman, the police have investigated two suspicious accomplices in an attempt to evade sanctions against Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
The Berlin prosecutor’s office said that since April 5, 2022, the three are believed to have exported many cars to Russia.
The EU canceled exports of luxury goods to Russia on March 15, 2022, including cars worth 50,000 euros or more. The sanctions were tightened on June 24, 2023 to ban the sale of any automobile to Russia, regardless of its value.
To circumvent EU sanctions, auto dealers allegedly forged paperwork, giving the impression that the vehicles were exported to Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
However, according to the survey, the cars were actually registered directly in Russia.
A total of 186 cars are said to have ended up violating sanctions.
