“Operatives of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department, in cooperation with employees of the MIA of Russia Main Directorate for Criminal Investigation, the Internal Affairs Administration for the North-Western District of the capital, traffic police inspectors and representatives of the Rosgvardia, detained five suspects of a series of burglaries.

According to available information, the offenders, using electronic keys and master keys, entered elite residential complexes located in the Central, Western and North-Western administrative districts of Moscow. Having identified visually the apartments where the wealthiest citizens could live, they installed the so-called “beacons” that recorded the arrival of the owners. If the doors were not opened for several days, the accomplices entered homes and, having stolen valuable property, hid in a foreign car with fake state registration plates.

After committing the unlawful acts, almost all the accomplices left Moscow and the Moscow Region. Expensive jewelry was sold, presumably, abroad, in particular in Monaco.

As a result of operational-search activities, officers of the Moscow Criminal Investigation Department identified five suspects, one of whom was a police officer. The suspects were detained red-handed immediately after committing two thefts from apartments in an elite residential complex in the Filevsky Park area. During the search, jewelry, foreign currency, as well as devices for opening locks and other items that have evidentiary value for a criminal case were seized from them. The preliminary damage exceeded 3.5 million rubles.

There are grounds to believe that the suspect could be involved in similar unlawful acts committed in the Moscow Region.

A criminal case was instituted on the grounds of a crime under part 4 of Article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation,” said the official representative of the Russian MIA Irina Volk.

In connection with the detention of a police officer, an official check has been instituted. If his guilt is confirmed, he will be dismissed from the police on defamatory grounds and will be held liable in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation.