At its September 10 plenary session, the Senate approved a bill on amendments to further step up guarding and protection of the state border.
The session heard that 12 illegal underground tunnels were discovered along the state border between 2016 and 2025, used in attempts to smuggle large quantities of goods, foreign currency and other valuables into the country. Such cases were described as a serious threat to the inviolability of the state border, economic security and national interests.
In Fergana and Andijan provinces alone, tunnels uncovered there were used to smuggle in more than 30 billion soums' worth of goods spanning 137 different product types, along with $3.7 million in cash and more than 5 kilograms of gold bars.
"Behind these figures lie real damage to the state budget, harm to honest entrepreneurs, an expanding shadow economy and, most importantly, a serious threat to national security. The underground tunnel discovered in Andijan province in 2023 — 10 to 12 meters deep, nearly 400 to 420 meters long, and equipped with electric lighting and a ventilation system — shows just how carefully organized criminal groups' preparations have become," said Kutbiddin Burkhonov, chairman of the Senate's Committee on Defense and Security, addressing the session.
According to Burkhonov, such cases can no longer be considered simple smuggling — they represent a dangerous form of organized transnational crime. Tunnels like these create opportunities to smuggle in drugs, weapons, explosives, toxic chemicals and other banned items, as well as to let criminals flee the country or allow people to enter illegally from abroad. This poses a direct threat to state security.
As a result, the Prosecutor General's Office drafted a bill amending the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes to further strengthen protection of the state border, which was subsequently adopted by the Legislative Chamber.
The bill consists of five articles and establishes separate criminal liability under the Criminal Code for building, using, organizing or financing illegal underground tunnels or other infrastructure beneath the state border. It also toughens penalties for illegally crossing the border or committing smuggling offenses using such structures.
"Put simply, if a person uses a specially built tunnel to cross the border illegally or to smuggle goods, that's no longer a routine violation — it's a crime committed by more dangerous means. That's why the bill allows for tougher penalties in such cases," the senator said.
Until now, there was no separate liability under any law specifically for building a tunnel. Now, not only those who use such tunnels but also those who build them, help build them, fund them or organize the effort will be held accountable under the law.
First-time offenders may be waived from penalties
The bill also upholds a principle of leniency. Specifically, a person committing such an offense for the first time may be exempted from criminal liability if they voluntarily report the construction of an illegal tunnel or other structure to the authorities, or actively help expose the crime, provided their actions don't constitute any other criminal offense.
According to Burkhonov, this provision reflects the state's aim not just to punish offenders but to detect and prevent such crimes earlier — a single timely tip, he noted, can sometimes prevent a far greater danger.
Tunnel-related investigations to be handled by the State Security Service
The bill also amends the Criminal Procedure Code, assigning preliminary investigations into crimes related to building, using or financing illegal underground structures or tunnels beneath the state border to investigators from the State Security Service. Since such crimes are directly tied to border and national security, investigative authority is being handed to the agency with specialized expertise and experience in this area.
The senators noted that the bill's passage will help safeguard the inviolability of the country's borders, strengthen national security and prevent such dangerous crimes in the future.
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