Investigation Administration of the MIA of Russia Inter-Municipal Administration “Orenburgskoye” completed the preliminary investigation of the criminal case instituted on the features of an offense stipulated by part 3 of Article 226.1 of the RF Criminal Code.

As previously reported, in 2019, officers of the Administration for Economic Security and Combating the Corruption of the MIA of Russia Administration for the Orenburg Region detained two suspects of smuggling more than four thousand land turtles from the Republic of Kazakhstan. This type of reptiles is protected by the “Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora” and is listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.

For more than two months, turtles were observed by specialists of the veterinary faculty of the Orenburg State Agrarian University. And in December last year, the leadership of the MIA of Russia Administration for the Orenburg Region, together with the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, transferred the animals to two enterprises - members of the Union of Zoos and Aquariums of Russia.

The criminal case with the indictment approved by the prosecutor has been submitted to the Ileksky District Court of the Orenburg Region for consideration on the merits,” said the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Volk.