A man in his 50s who smuggled 29 cannon trucks to Russia and fled abroad was sentenced to 10 months in prison.

Busan = Yonhap News) Reporter Cha Geun-ho = A man in his 50s who smuggled 29 so-called 'cannon cars' into Russia by hiding them among normal exports and then fled abroad was repatriated to Korea after 10 years and sentenced to prison.

Judge Park Joo-young, Criminal Division 3 of the Busan District Court, announced on the 7th that Mr. A, who was indicted on charges of violating the Customs Act, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined 961.51 million won.

Mr. A was indicted on charges of conspiring with Mr. B, the operator of a port logistics stevedoring company, to export 29 cannon trucks to Russia from February 2014 to August of the same year without reporting them to customs.

According to the ruling, in February 2014, Mr. A asked Mr. B to export the Santa Fe vehicle to Russia without reporting it and then handed over the vehicle.

It was found that Mr. B transported the vehicle by loading it among goods normally exported on a cargo ship bound for Russia and obtaining the captain's signature on a previously prepared bill of lading.

In this way, Mr. A's group exported a total of 29 cars to Russia for 6 months without customs declaration.

Mr. A fled to the Philippines in 2015 after committing the crime, stayed there for a long time, and was repatriated to Korea last year.

Judge Park stated the reason for sentencing, saying, "The nature of the crime is not good in that the scale of smuggling is large and it is a planned and organized crime. Considering the fact that the defendant reoffended while on probation despite having a similar history, and that he fled to the Philippines in 2015 and was repatriated to Korea in 2025, he cannot avoid punishment commensurate with the crime."