A 56 year-old woman has been arrested for bringing a $580,000 golden ring into Russia without declaring it to customs officials, the Interfax news agency on Wednesday.
The passenger, who arrived at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport from Munich, told officials that the Van Cleef & Arpels ring — encrusted with diamonds, tourmaline, sapphires and emeralds — was a present from her husband.
Customs duty on the ring would have amounted to more than 9 million rubles ($141,000). The Federal Customs Service said that a decision was still being made on whether to charge the woman with failure to avoiding customs charges “on a large scale.”
If found guilty, the passenger could be given a prison sentence of up to 5 years.
