The duty-unit of the MIA Administration for the city of Krasnodar was contacted by employees of a supermarket with a message of identifying counterfeit five thousand ruble banknotes.

Upon their arrival at the indicated address the police found that one of the shop-assistants, doubting the authenticity of a banknote presented for payment, called the guard, who kept the buyer in the shop until the police arrived.

The 47-year-old suspect, a resident of the Chechen Republic, was detained at the scene and taken to the duty-unit.

When carrying out a complex of search operations the Krasnodar police were able to establish the involvement of the detainee in the sale of counterfeit money and to detain four of his associates living in the city of Tikhoretsk. The detectives found that from March 2015 the suspects paid with counterfeit notes in grocery stores and cafes located in the regional center, as well as in the cities of Armavir and Tikhoretsk. At the places of residence of the alleged criminals there were seized 20 counterfeit five thousand ruble banknotes totaling an amount of 100 thousand rubles. As a result of an expert examination they were also found to be counterfeit.

At the police division the detained members of the organized group reported that they had acquired the counterfeit money from an acquaintance living in the Chechen Republic, the identity of this woman is currently being established. It is known that one of the detainees has already been brought to criminal liability for the possession of drugs.

The investigators initiated against the suspects a criminal case on the grounds of a crime stipulated by Part 3 of Article 186 of the Russian Criminal Code, “Manufacture and sale of counterfeit money or securities, committed by an organized group”. The sanctions of this article stipulate a term of up to 20 years in prison.