It soon became clear that it was impossible to work under cover as a worker since too many ethnic and cultural barriers existed for an outsider to blend in. The option we chose was to act as a member of the 'western' management team. However, the task was made particularly difficult for the following reasons:
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First - It was obvious that no activity would take place in the presence of the management team.
Secondly - the on site 'security' team from top to bottom were under suspicion and so access to reliable local information and leads was virtually impossible.
Thirdly - The scale of the theft clearly indicated that a large professional organisation was behind the operation.
At the time the rule of law was dictated 'mafia' type organisations.
Hence anyone who asked questions or made any attempt to expose the scam was highly likely to be putting their lives at risk. As a result an additional team was put in to place to survey the investigator and be on constant stand by to move in to protect and extract him to safety if required.
After a couple of months of familiarising himself with the system and by analysing routines, patterns and events our agent was able to identify several areas of weakness in the system used to steal the cigarettes. Through a carefully planned process of closing obvious loopholes backed up by surveillance and staged events, the method of smuggling was identified. This allowed us to set up a carefully staged operation which led to the offenders being caught red handed.
Unfortunately, the agent had to reveal himself in order to prove the case and as a result he had to be smuggled to safety - never to return to Kazakhstan .
