News

The Orenburg Region Office of the RF Investigative Committee has opened an investigation in a crime under Part 4, items “a” and “b” of Article 158 of the RF Penal Code (secret larceny of other people’s property committed by an organized group of people on a very large scale).

According to investigators, 12 residents of Orenburg Region formed an organized group and devised a criminal plan. They distributed the roles, made a scheme of stealing and selling stolen petroleum.

From 2014 to 2016, mostly at night time the suspects systematically used necessary equipment and methods of secrecy loaded petroleum to specialized vehicles and took off from a facility of an oil production enterprise (an oil treatment plant) located in the settlement of Repino, Orenburg District.

They then sold the petroleum via petroleum stations in the town and around the region. The money was distributed among the accomplices.

The perpetrators were detained on a crime scene right after they had stolen some fuel. The organizer of the crimes and some of the members of the group have been charged with a crime under Part 4, items “a” and “b” of Article 158 of the RF Penal Code (secret larceny of other people’s property committed by an organized group of people on a very large scale).

Their criminal activity was broken up thanks to coherent cooperation of investigators from the regional investigative authority, operatives of the Economic Security and Corruption Department of the Regional Police Authority with the support from agents of SOBR and OMON special force teams.

By now all the suspects are in detention and the organizer has been put in custody pending trial. 5 other suspects are under house arrest, while the rest of them have been released on recognizance.

During searches the investigators have confiscated documents relevant for the investigation, draft notes, accounting papers, computers, cell phones, a tank truck, samples of petroleum products. The suspects and witnesses are now being questioned.

Investigative operations are underway to find out all the circumstances surrounding the crimes. The investigation is ongoing.