ARMENIAN CUSTOMS OFFICERS DETAIN WOMAN TRYING TO PASS DIAMONDS
WRAPPED AS FILLING IN GRAPE LEAVES

YEREVAN, MAY 30. ARMINFO. A few days ago Armenian customs officers
detained Kazakh citizen Aishe Haroutyunyan while trying to pass via the
green zone of Zvartnots Airport (Yerevan) 430 g of diamonds and gold.

The press service of the State Customs Committee of Armenia reports
that Haroutyunyan was going from Yerevan to Actau and to pass the
jewelry worth an estimated 1.700 mln AMD she had wrapped it up as
filling in grape leaves and placed it in a glass jar. Haroutyunyan
says that in Yerevan she bought the jewelry for $3,000 but gearing
that she would not be able to take them legally to Actau resorted to
fraud. She has been fined for 1.247 mln AMD.

Last year customs officers detected 2 cases of contraband. The
smugglers attempted to pass uncut diamonds worth $18,000. A total
of 6 kg of smuggled gold and 852 carats of diamonds were seized by
customs officers throughout 2004.