The Novosibirsk Region office of the Investigative Committee has opened an investigation in an abduction of a 17-year-old boy for ransom under Part 2, items “a” and “h” of Article 126 (abduction by a group of people for mercenary motives) and Part 2, items “a” and “c” of Article 163 of the RF Penal Code (extortion committed by a group of people using violence).
According to investigators, three local residents decided to steal funds from the accounts of a 17-year-old former inmate of a children’s home which the inmates can manage after they have come of age. To do that they created a fake account on a social networking site and started offering the teenager a job at a call center. After a few days of persistent offers the teenager agreed to meet with his potential employer in a shopping mall in the city of Novosibirsk. On 1 December 2016, the three young men arrived at the stipulated place and invited the teenager to their car allegedly to sign some documents. In the car they started to beat him demanding to give them his bank cards and tell the codes to them. By that time the boy had had on his account 1 million 124 thousand rubles in different social benefits. The culprits took the boy to a flat in Leninsky District, tied him up and continued beating demanding the bank cards. The next day, when one of the abductors had left the flat and another one had fallen asleep, the teenager managed to untie himself and ran out the flat. The teenager used a telephone given to him by a passerby and reported the crime to the police. Law enforcers arrived and detained one of the abductors. It was a 17-year-old local resident, also a former inmate of a children’s house who had been previously convicted for larceny and fraud.
During an interrogation he confessed to the crime and now is expecting a custodial restraint.
Investigative and search operations are underway to identify and hold other accomplices and to check if there were other crimes committed by the group. The investigation is ongoing.
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