Estonia's Petrol Smuggling Crackdown Slashes Border Traffic

An Estonian crackdown on petrol smuggling from Russia has dramatically cut down on traffic jams at the Baltic state's border crossings, its revenue service said Friday.

Until last month, Estonian and Latvian smugglers had driven to Russia several times per week to fill up their tanks with cheaper petrol, to then syphon it out of their tanks and sell it back on the EU side.

"Actions taken by the Estonian Tax and Customs Board since mid-June to stop the illegal petrol business between Russia and EU members Estonia and Latvia has cut the waiting time at Estonian-Russian border checkpoints up to four times," the board's customs section head Urmas Koidu told Agence France Presse.

According to official data, 1,014 cars crossed the Estonian-Russian border more than 15 times per month in 2011.

Under Estonian law, anyone has the right to buy enough petrol to enable a vehicle to reach its destination, but purchasing it for commercial purposes and avoiding EU taxes are illegal.

"Around 12 million liters of cheap petrol are smuggled from Russia to Estonia every year by cars, which means annually the state is losing some 5.8 million euros," Koidu said.

"Since mid-June, the number of cars that used to cross the Russian-Estonian border five or more times the same week has decreased by 90 percent at south Estonia's Koidula checkpoint," he added.

Some petrol traders have said the business is their only incomes.

Wily smugglers have even poured water into the petrol tank before the Russia-bound trip, in order to give a false reading on their car's gauge. Once in Russia, they siphon it out and replace it with fuel.

But the customs board warned that, since it is hard to siphon out a tank completely, the smugglers are left with water in the petrol that could damage the vehicles of people who buy fuel from the smugglers.

Estonia, a nation of 1.3 million which was ruled by the Soviet Union for five decades until 1991, joined the EU in 2004.