Meghri Customs Service employees, working on the Armenian-Iranian border, are charging people 1,000 drams to use electric cars to transfer their goods between the official Armenian border and the passport and customs checkpoint.

The distance is about one kilometer.

This reporter spotted an official Customs Service sticker on a car, driven by a person wearing the agency’s official uniform.

While we were waiting for an electric car at the border, some young Armenian men, who were returning to Armenia from Iran where they periodically go on shopping trips, told us that they pay the driver 1,000 drams each time from the border to the checkpoint.  

The men purchase large quantities of goods and it’s more convenient to use the electric cars.

When we asked if the driver issues them a receipt for 1000 drams, they said that no.

We also used an electric car with these young men, for which one of them paid 1000 AMD.

We asked the driver if people had to pay for the service, he replied matter-of-factly,  "They give, I take."

When we asked why he wasn’t issuing a receipt for the 1,000 drams, the young customs official replied, "What receipt?"

The Customs Service's electric car operates all day long, mainly ferrying people who visit Iran for trade purposes. Just on the other side of the Armenian border, in Iran, there are stores and shops. There are wholesale outlets in the nearby towns as well.

Loaded down with cargo, these people usually prefer to use these electric cars.

While we were waiting for our passport check, the young man made his second trip from border to border. We witnessed another gruou of people paying money for the electric car.

In response to our written inquiry, the State Revenue Committee (SRC) stated that the movement of citizens and their belongings from the state border of the Republic of Armenia to the Meghri customs point and vice versa is carried out by electric cars belonging to the Meghri customs point of the SRC. This service, according to the SRC, is provided exclusively free of charge, under the daily supervision of Meghri customs point administrators.

“If concrete evidence  is provided about receiving money, as  mentioned in your letter, the SRC will take appropriate measures to bring the perpetrators to justice,"  Deputy Chairman of the SRC, Colonel Shushanik Nersisyan wrote in his reply.