MOSCOW, December 11 (RAPSI) – Investigation into a criminal case over smuggling of valuable wood species to China has been completed, the press service of Russia’s Investigative Committee reports.

The case has been forwarded to the Prosecutor General’s Office for indictment to be approved.

According to the probe, 2016 through 2018, Sagatel Bagdasaryan, Artem Sapko and Maxim Ovsyannikov conspired and bought at least 314 cubic metres of rare Mongolian oaks and 308 cubic metres of Manchurian ashes without documents on their lawful origin. 

The defendants prepared forged documents in order to receive an export permit and submitted the papers to customs aiming to further transfer the finewood worth over 5 million rubles (about $70,000) to China, investigators claim.