El delito de contrabando en la frontera terrestre - Puente Internacional Rumichaca y la ilegalidad en el procedimiento de aprehensión de mercancías por parte del personal de la unidad de vigilancia aduanera.

Abstract

The phenomenon of smuggling has global connotation, and therefore both America and therefore in Ecuador we are not immune or alien to this problem that has gone from being considered as a simple crime to become a relevant problem both economic, social and legal since its rooting in the Ecuadorian society is worrisome. It is thus that smuggling has been adopted as an informal economic activity, that it is utopian to determine its magnitude. Nevertheless taking into account their characteristics and the large number of individuals who have made contraband their modus vivendi, in addition to the indicators related to sanctioning processes instituted and executed by this crime and the conflicting events that day by day are lived in the zones of entry to the country, especially at the land borders, it is blunt to say that this is a problem that becomes complex and measurable and mitigable every day. This is why the preparation of this paper seeks to analyze the action of the Customs Surveillance Unit in controlling the entry of people, means of transport and goods at the land border, specifically at the Rumichaca International Bridge Control Station in the province of the Carchi, in order to analyze its legal competence in the apprehension of goods in this sector, since it is a Primary Zone of the customs territory; since Art. 255 of the Regulations to the Organic Code of Production, Trade and Investment, says: "...The Customs Surveillance Unit will carry out operations related to the prevention of customs offenses, mainly in secondary areas, and when the Director General or the Deputy Director General of Operations in primary zones, carry out patrols, investigations, arrests and provisional retentions of goods to through its operating groups of control or the units that conform ... "This is where the question arises about the legality in the procedures of apprehensions realized by the UVA in the primary zone (Rumichaca Bridge), since there is no legal base that supports its functions and to act in the border zone.