“The Investigation Administration of the Russian MIA Administration for Naberezhnye Chelny accomplished the investigation of the criminal case against criminal community members who had perpetrated a number of felonies in the city and delivered the criminal case to the court,” said the Russian MIA official representative Irina Volk.

The criminal case was initiated after the detention of seven gang members red‑handed on October 15, 2015. That operation was the result of the investigation by officers of the Organized Crime Unit of the MIA for the Republic of Tatarstan and the Russian FSB Administration for the Republic of Tatarstan who possessed information that a group of residents of Naberezhnye Chelny had stolen component parts for heavy vehicle gearboxes from a plant in Naberezhnye Chelny. In the course of the searches at the places of their residence and in a garage complex, policemen and FSB officers seized a part of the stolen property, as well as 2 units of firearms – a revolver and a sawn‑off hunting rifle.

Employees of the enterprise and several members of an organized group of Naberezhnye Chelny were among those detained. The organizer is a 38‑year old member of the organized group with a criminal record. That was him who developed the schemes for stealing products from the plant. Employees of the enterprise took away the products in secret compartments of the company vehicles. In a number of cases, they transported the goods openly, by agreement with the enterprise's guard. The gang sold the stolen products also in Naberezhnye Chelny.

All in all, the investigation identified 22 accomplices who had committed 12 thefts to a total amount of 6.5 million rubles. Besides, one of the community leaders who was an employee of the plant and had therefore signed the non-disclosure agreement attempted to sell confidential drawings of spare parts. The estimated damage inflicted to the enterprise by the malefactors totaled 159 million rubles.

The investigation also established other cases of the community's unlawful activities, including a fact of extortion from a businessman of the city, two facts of illicit banking (cashing out funds through illegitimate firms created by the gang members), and two facts of fraud. In the first case, they stole money of a car showroom by having registered a car purchased on credit in the name of a homeless person; in the second case, they obtained a grant in the municipal Employment Center allegedly for business development.

In the course of the investigation, the authorities consolidated 11 criminal cases initiated subject to Parts 1 and 2 Article 173.1, Part 3 Article 183, Part 3 Article 222, Part 3 Article 163, Part 1 Article 175, Parts 1 and 4 Article 158, Parts 1 and 2 Article 210 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.

The community organizer escaped and was put on the federal wanted list. Upon the motion of the investigators, the court imposed the following restraints on the offenders: 3 of them were remanded in custody; one was put under house arrest; the other 18 gave written undertaking not to leave. By the moment, the investigation has been accomplished and all the materials have been sent to the court for consideration on the merits.