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3rd Chinese Man Caught Trying to Smuggle Pirated Olympic Goods Into Russia

Russian customs authorities in the Far East have caught a third Chinese citizen trying to smuggle bootlegged Sochi Winter Olympics merchandise into the country.

The unidentified man was stopped at a customs control zone near the city of Ussuriysk, about 100 kilometers north of Vladivostok, with a box containing 900 badges bearing images of the Olympic rings and the Sochi 2014 logo.

The man couldn't provide documentation for the goods and said that he was merely transporting them on behalf of a third party, the Federal Customs Service said Monday.

Customs officers have confiscated the goods and opened an administrative case against the suspect.

Inspectors at the same customs zone have twice already intercepted Sochi 2014 merchandise being brought into Russia that has not been licensed by the Games' Organizing Committee.

At the end of 2013 a Chinese man was caught trying to smuggle 48,500 stickers with the Olympic logo over the border in the Primorye region.

An administrative case was opened against the man on charges of illegally using the Games' logo.


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