Gangsters imposed tribute to officers of a secret military unit
up to 15 years imprisonment.
Yesterday, the press service of the Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for Primorye announced the liquidation of a gang that operated on the territory of a closed administrative and territorial unit (CATF) of Fokino and Shkotovsky district. In the Closed City of Fokino, the Primorsk flotilla of disparate forces of the Pacific Fleet is based, and the members of the group, which included two natives of Dagestan and a local resident, 1980, 1986 and 1987, were chosen to earn a living by extorting money from the military. The investigation has a total of six victims, one of whom is an officer in the space forces. The criminals blackmailed, intimidated their victims, threatened to kill, "and some were brutally beaten to prove the seriousness of their intentions," the ministry said. According to the investigation, in case the potential victim did not have the sum of money extorted from her, the criminals took away expensive items or forced them to take bank loans. The servicemen were also forced to write receipts for the debt they allegedly owed to the extortionists. During a search in the apartment of one of the suspects, a bundle of such receipts was found - the largest amount of "debt" is 700 thousand rubles. A car selected by extortionists as a payment of a mythical debt from one of the victims was also seized. "The consequences of the unlawful activities of criminals threatened the acquisition of military units and their combat readiness: there are cases when the military were forced to resign, fearing to become victims of extortionists," - noted in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for Primorye.
On the activities of racketeers was put an end after one of their victims asked for help from law enforcement. During the operation, prepared with the participation of police officers and officers of the FSB Department for the Pacific Fleet, at the time of the transfer of 250 thousand rubles. extortionists were detained. “At the moment, all members of the group are charged with crimes under articles 163 (Extortion) and 161 (Robbery) of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. They are placed in the detention facility. Currently, investigative and operational-search measures are being carried out aimed at gathering and securing evidence of the guilt of the detainees and identifying other facts of their criminal activities, ”said Alexander Pilipenko, head of the FPSU No. 6, Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Primorsky Krai. Racketeers face imprisonment for a period of seven to 15 years with a fine of up to 1 million rubles, the department said.
At the Pacific Fleet headquarters, they are assuring that “they are a clear exaggeration” of the statement that as a result of the racketeers' activities, the combat readiness of military units deployed in Fokino and Shkotovsky region was questioned. “I do not know such facts,” said the spokesman for the fleet commander Roman Martov.
This is not the first time that criminals extorted money from military units deployed in Primorye. In 2007, the media reported that officers of a machine gun and artillery division, headquartered in the village of Sergeevka, complained of extortion from local gangsters. A criminal case was initiated on this fact, but the perpetrators were never established.
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