Controlled procurement and controlled delivery operations are widely used by law enforcement agencies to solve crimes for which insufficient evidence has been collected, or there is no other way to identify the real organizers of illegal actions. From beginning to end, they are carried out under the total supervision of the police or special services.
In accordance with the Vienna Convention
For a long time there was no such thing as a controlled delivery in the Russian Federation, and before that in the Soviet Union. In many ways, it was included in the list of events for law enforcement officers of the Russian Federation thanks to the Vienna Convention. The document was developed with the aim of regulating a single form of interaction between the intelligence services of different countries to solve crimes that can involve several countries at the same time.
It all started with the suppression of the drug trade. In 1988, in Vienna, the United Nations countries agreed to act together in the fight against organized crime and signed a document that regulated the interaction between the legal structures of different states in the fight against illicit trafficking in psychotropic substances prohibited for free use. Over time, similar cooperation extended to the illegal arms trade.
What it looks like
To understand the algorithm for the operation, we can give an example of a controlled delivery with crossing the state border of a state. Suppose the country's special services have received information that on such and such a day or by certain people an attempt will be made to transport a prohibited cargo through customs. Of course, it can be seized immediately, and offenders can be detained.
But sometimes it is important to punish not the perpetrators, but the organizers of the smuggling supply with obtaining the necessary evidence of their criminal activities. You can identify them only by tracing the further path of the goods with the establishment of all the actors in the operation. In this case, it will be much easier to find the organizers and stop their activities in the future. Sometimes a prohibited product at the border can be quietly replaced with a completely harmless one, so that the carrier does not guess about it. But this is not always possible. In any case, surveillance is established for him with the involvement ofspecial services until the cargo arrives at its destination. True, not everything is so simple. In order to carry out an operation with controlled smuggling, a court permit is required. And it can be obtained only by providing strong evidence of the need for the event.
Not a free implementation
Today, in operational-search activities, controlled delivery is used in the investigation of criminal cases, which are based on objects and substances, the use or use of which requires special permission. For example, antiques, historical and cultural values. This category also includes information constituting a state secret. Everything that can become an object of controlled delivery is conditionally divided into two subgroups.
The first is made up of things and items subject to mandatory licensing for activities with their use. These are dangerous toxic substances, psychotropic drugs, weapons, explosives, precious metals and stones, technical equipment for space and military purposes, and much more. The crimes associated with them are rarely committed by the true organizers. The rough work of transporting objects or their elements lies with ordinary performers. A long chain of intermediaries stretches from them to the organizers.
Conditionally open turnover
The string of accomplices involved in the criminal operation is somewhat shorter when it comes to objects and substances conditionally prohibited for free circulation. They belong to the second subgroup. This isthere may be equipment that, with a slight alteration, is then used for clandestine laboratories for the production of the same drugs, poisonous or psychotropic substances. The controlled delivery of goods related to the activities of criminal organizations is able to identify and eliminate the source of evil.
The second subgroup, in addition to those listed, includes precious metals, securities and monetary units obtained as a result of illegal actions, such as theft or fraud. Stolen cars, stolen goods, especially if a whole network of such crimes has been established, can also become objects for controlled deliveries. Often the organizers and perpetrators of such crimes are located not only in different regions of one state, but also in different countries. This is where the Vienna Convention comes into force.
Single Tasks
In the Russian Federation, controlled delivery was legalized in 1993 with the introduction of appropriate amendments to the current Customs Code. Employees of the department received the right to carry out and control the import into the country of substances and items that are of particular interest to the criminal communities of several states at once. Quite often, Russia was used in the chain of such criminal acts only as a transit zone. But even in this case, our special services rendered every possible assistance to their colleagues from other countries.
In operations of this magnitude, clear interaction of all participants is necessary. The smallest detailsconducting controlled delivery with the competent authorities of other states, if possible, are agreed in advance. The sooner an agreement is reached between the leadership of the special services, the sooner the direct participants in the supervision of the movement of cargo will begin to work. Considering that the outcome of the activities is the eradication of international smuggling, in which any country can be involved, in most cases, joint actions can be agreed upon.
With permission and supervision
After the adoption of a new provision in the activities of the Customs Union, the operational-search activity "Controlled Delivery" was introduced into their everyday life by law enforcement agencies. It was included in the law on investigative activities in 1995 and implies that, with the knowledge of the competent authorities, the country may be allowed to covertly import goods that are of interest to both the criminal community and law enforcement officers. Carriers are being monitored to control the movement of cargo all the way to its final destination.
A report on all operational actions in relation to a regulated product is mandatory brought to the top management. In this case, no amateur performance in the ORM is allowed. Controlled delivery actions not coordinated with the operational headquarters of the operation can lead to the failure of the entire task and an international scandal. Therefore, each step of the special services requires appropriate permission. In the current conditions of established communication through cellular operators and spacecompanions get it easily.
Urgently
The development of modern technologies is especially noticeable when it is necessary to act quickly. Criminals do not always behave predictably, and quite often you have to make a decision based on the situation. But even in this case, the notification of the higher authority carrying out the operation about the change in its previously uncoordinated stages must be made within 24 hours. And on the next day, get official permission for the relevant actions or stop all actions.
Controlled delivery to the ORD is subject to special control, and the special services should not forget about it. This is especially important if, when crossing the border, the smuggled goods were not secretly seized and replaced with legal or less dangerous ones. Such actions are resorted to in cases where prohibited items or substances present the possibility of poisoning or explosion during transportation. In matters of suppression of an identified crime, it is necessary, first of all, to observe safety and ensure it for others.
In every possible way
Smuggling can be carried out by almost all types of possible movement of goods. But there are three most widely used. These are courier delivery, mail forwarding and container transportation. In the first case, controlled delivery can be carried out without the knowledge of the direct carrier. He is given a package, or an envelope, or a product packaged in any other way, which must be transferred for a fee. Courier control is carried out visually withusing special equipment. In a similar way, container transportation is also monitored.
The tactics of supervising the movement of controlled cargo by mail has its own characteristics. First of all, they affect the rights of citizens to the secrecy of personal correspondence, therefore, to open mail, in order to make sure that the forwarded item is prohibited, operatives must have the appropriate permission from the court. There are other subtleties as well. For example, a letter or parcel may be sent to a figurehead with the same request to be handed over to a third link in the chain. Therefore, it is so important to follow the previously developed stages of the operation and record all your actions. This can be photo and video materials, certificates of inspection of goods certified by witnesses. Otherwise, the respondent may quite reasonably claim a violation of their constitutional rights.
Features of the internal investigation
Things or items that are not always prohibited for open use enter the country from outside. For example, it is much easier to establish a criminal activity in the theft of expensive cars, theft of weapons, antiques, the production of counterfeit money or a number of other offenses in your state. When investigating them, different types of ORM are used. Controlled delivery is one of them. The principle is the same as when crossing the state border. The cargo is installed and visually inspected.
With internal supervision for such an operation, its approval must be carried out no longer onat the state level, but only with law enforcement agencies of those regions through which the goods will be transported or are already moving. The exception is the cargo of specially controlled use: weapons, secret technologies, weapons of mass destruction, and the like. In this case, the operation is carried out with the involvement of the operational bodies of the central apparatus of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or counterintelligence, which plan and carry it out from beginning to end.
Someone else's business
Completely different algorithm of actions of Russian special services in international controlled delivery. The development of all stages of the operation is carried out by the state that initiated its implementation. First, the entire chain of possible interactions is coordinated at the state level. Only then are direct performers connected to it. Those, in turn, are also developing their possible actions on the ground within the framework agreed by higher authorities.
When making an international delivery, a criminal case is not initiated in another country where the operation is directly carried out. It is necessary to inform the local prosecutor's office about all the subtleties of the actions planned within the framework of this investigation in order to avoid its possible interference in someone else's history. Naturally, it is highly likely that the direct supervision of the cargo will be carried out by police or counterintelligence officers of the state where the operation is being carried out. But in this case, its initiators will control both the product and their colleagues.
Transit flows
Similar actions of special services are observed when passingsupervisory cargo through a particular country in transit. Sometimes it is possible to determine in advance that the smuggled goods will cross more than one border. Sometimes this possibility is established only in the process of the operation itself. In this case, the controlled delivery is also the business of the State that initiated the investigation. The chain of coordinating joint actions includes the Ministry of the Interior, customs and border agencies, and the Federal Security Service. The crimes identified during the joint investigation can later serve as a starting point for the internal suppression of certain actions and the initiation of criminal cases. But with transit controlled delivery, local authorities are not en titled to open their own production in relation to it.
In violation of constitutional rights
No matter how good the goals of organizing a controlled delivery, its implementation violates the legitimate rights of citizens. The constitutional guarantees for the secrecy of correspondence have already been mentioned here. In addition, people who have nothing to do with the crime often fall under the close supervision of special services in the investigation of a case. These can be quite law-abiding customs officers through which the goods pass, drivers of vehicles in which contraband is transported. This can also include respectable employees of other institutions related to the regulated product. They are being followed, their telephone conversations are being tapped.
According to the Constitution, citizens must be notified of the operational-search measures being carried out against them, indicating their violation of a certain article of the Criminal Code. Whatever the types of controlled delivery: internal or external, all actions carried out in relation to the citizens involved in it must have the appropriate court permissions. Otherwise, the event may be declared illegal.
