Previously, the ENAP had come upon information about a group of five persons cheating foreign companies out of goods in transit.
On December 1 ENAP caught the possible perpetrators in the act and detained three Latvian inhabitants - a possible organizer along with two men, aged 44 and 27. The same day the police discovered three shipments the group had obtained illicitly, worth about €0.5m.
Among the spoils of the scammers were 12,474 Bushmills 0.7 liter whiskey bottles, as well as 405 car tires and 24.2 tons of buckwheat.
A day later the police arrested the possible financier of the scheme - a 31-year-old Russian. This man was detained at the Rīga Airport trying to flee the country.
The organizer is under arrest, while the rest have been put under police supervision.
The investigators said that the group had planned to swindle at least eight shipments with various goods in them. Criminal proceedings have been started against the group. The punishment for fraud in large amounts can be up to ten years imprisonment.
