MOSCOW: Prosecutors in Kazakhstan have launched a criminal case against one of the nation’s most senior diplomats in Germany, whose arrest there on charges of cigarettes smuggling was branded by the foreign minister as a “shame” to his country.
German’s Bild newspaper has reported that Kazakhstan’s Consul-General Akhat Alpysbayev and several other Kazakhstan diplomats were arrested by German police in Frankfurt am Main on charges of cigarettes smuggling.
“The most recent shameful sign is the case involving our diplomats working for the Consulate General in Frankfurt,” Kazakhstan’s Foreign Minister Yerlan Idrisov said. “There was a small group, which smuggled cigarettes to Germany for a long time.”
Kazakhstan’s law enforcers closely cooperated with their colleagues in Germany during the investigation of the case, Idrisov added.
