“As a result of investigation and search measures, policemen of the Administration for Economic Security and Combating the Corruption (AES&CC) of the Russian MIA Administration for the Republic of Crimea detected two clandestine shops manufacturing adulterated alcohol products in the Simferopolsky and Belogorsky Districts of the peninsula. The value of the confiscated property exceeded 36 million rubles,” said Russian MIA official representative Irina Volk.

Within the investigation of the criminal case initiated on the fact of illicit sale of excise marks for alcohol products, the police carried out 17 searches at places of the suspects, including in Simferopol, Feodosia, Yevpatoria, Dzhankoy, and Belogorsk.

As a result of the searches, policemen seized two lines for bottling alcohol products worth about 25 m rubles, over two tons of a liquid having a characteristic smell of spirit worth 2.8 m rubles, 3,000 excise marks, and more than 50,000 bottles of finished products for over 9 m rubles with labels of well-known expensive brands of vodka, cognac, and whiskey.

By the moment, the police have identified three organizers of the illegal business from among the locals of the Republic.

Damage inflicted to the legal owners of alcohol trademarks is being estimated. Policemen are carrying out measures to detect places of sale of falsified alcoholic beverages.

Samples of the confiscated products have been sent for expert examination. The decision on initiation of a criminal case will be made based on its results.

Download the official comment given by Russian MIA official representative Irina Volk

Download the video about the operations