Three residents of St. Petersburg and a foreigner were detained on suspicion of an eight-year series of robberies and assaults. They are united by love: for travel, families and gold.
On September 7, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, Irina Volk, announced the arrest of the suspects. They were sought after a series of raids on jewelry stores and pawnshops, which lasted from 2013 to 2021. According to the police, the criminals started from the Novgorod region and in eight years managed to check in in thirteen regions, including in the Tula, Sverdlovsk, Tambov, Tver, Bryansk, Vladimir and Kirov regions. They prepared for the attacks by studying the location of cameras and guards, as well as changing the numbers on two of their cars.
The police are aware of twenty robberies and robberies with damage of 50 million rubles. The path of the stolen jewelry was traced to a private jeweler in Moscow – he bought gold from criminals, according to investigators, not knowing about its origin.
“The actors carefully concealed their criminal intentions: everyone was an exemplary family man, their relatives and friends did not even know about the criminal acts they committed,” Volk says.
The alleged leader and two members of the group were detained in St. Petersburg, another one – a foreigner – was caught on the Russian border. All four have been arrested.
Criminal cases initiated in different regions are combined into one proceeding. The Tula region police are investigating.