Customs officials at the capital's international airport have reportedly thwarted another sophisticated attempt to illegally import modern mobile devices into the country, according to statements released by the State Customs Committee. Under current regulatory frameworks, individuals are strictly required to declare all mobile devices brought in from abroad—whether intended for personal use or commercial purposes—within the passenger customs declaration, which must include accurate IMEI codes.

However, inspections carried out at the Tashkent airport revealed concerning practices where certain passengers allegedly manipulated the declaration process. Instead of providing the genuine IMEI codes of the devices physically present in their luggage, these individuals reportedly listed codes belonging to gadgets that had been previously smuggled into the country. To bypass electronic controls, they supposedly reinstalled software on the smartphones to overwrite and assign foreign IMEI codes to the new hardware.

As a result of this technical manipulation, checking the phone's settings would display one IMEI code, while a standard USSD query would reveal an entirely different sequence. Through these investigative measures, customs personnel successfully intercepted an attempt to bring in 20 high-end iPhone models, with a total estimated value reaching nearly 310 million soms.

Authorities stated that comprehensive customs audits regarding these incidents are currently ongoing. Furthermore, officials claim they are implementing enhanced measures to track down similar illegal operations and prevent further attempts to circumvent electronic registration requirements at the border.

Source: uznews.uz