The Crime Book

57

F

rom August to November

2004, a team of enterprising

smugglers operated a

remarkable 2-km (1¼-mile) pipeline

under the Kyrgyzstan River to

transport huge quantities of vodka

from Russia to the ex-Soviet

country of Estonia in order to avoid

paying duty.

Estonia had only just joined the

European Union on 1 May 2004,

where vodka fetched a much higher

price than it did in Russia.

Unfortunately for the smugglers,

however, they could not find a

single buyer for the illegal vodka in

the country’s capital, Tallinn. They

finally offloaded it in Tartu,

Estonia’s second-largest city.

The operation was uncovered

by chance when workers digging

planting holes for trees found the

pipeline along the bottom of a

reservoir near the border town of

Narva. Customs officials seized

1,400 litres (306 gallons) of the

alcohol and shut down the pipeline.

They also later discovered a large

quantity of untaxed alcohol hidden

in a truck in Tallinn.

See also: The Hawkhurst Gang 136–37 ■ The Beer Wars 152–53

Officials estimated that by the

time the gang of 11 Russian

and Estonian smugglers were

caught, they had already pumped

7,450 litres (1,638 gallons) of vodka

from Russia to Estonia.

Two years later, Estonian police

discovered another smuggling

pipeline under the same river, but

it was shut down before any

alcohol was illegally transported

into the European Union. ■

BANDITS, ROBBERS, AND ARSONISTS

IN CONTEXT

LOCATION

Narva, Estonia

THEME

Smuggling

BEFORE

1916 After the state of

Michigan bans alcohol sales,

rum-runners smuggle liquor by

boat over the border from

Windsor, Ontario, in Canada

to Detroit, Michigan.

12 August 1998 Lithuanian

police uncover a pipeline

used to smuggle alcohol

from Latvia across the border

into Lithuania.

AFTER

6 January 2014 Philadelphia

police arrest a local attorney

for illegally selling bottles of

fine wine out of the basement

of his home; in all, they

confiscate 2,500 bottles valued

between $150,000 (£120,000)

and $200,000 (£160,000).

The investigation also

revealed that the men had

tried to sell some of the alcohol

in Tallinn... but the quality

of the spirit was too bad.

Mari Luuk

WEIRD AND

UNBELIEVABLE, BUT

IT’S A VERY REAL

CRIMINAL CASE

THE RUSSIA-ESTONIA VODKA PIPELINE, 2004

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