Employees of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, together with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, stopped the activities of an organized criminal community (OPS), which specialized in the manufacture and wholesale sale of counterfeit banknotes with a face value of 5 thousand rubles.
According to the Center for Public Relations of the FSB, a secret large-scale production of counterfeit banknotes was organized in the territory of the Levashinsky district of the Republic of Dagestan.
"For the sale of manufactured products, OPS units were created aimed at selling large quantities of counterfeit banknotes in the territories of various subjects of the Russian Federation. According to operational data, the annual volume of manufactured and sold counterfeit products exceeded 1 billion rubles, "the report said.
As part of the investigation, 18 searches were conducted at the places of residence of members of the criminal community in the territories of the Rostov region, Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya.
According to the FSB, during the searches, objects and documents relevant to the investigation of the criminal case were found and seized. Among them are more than 20 million counterfeit rubles, constituent elements of clichés for the manufacture of Russian rubles, a matrix for the manufacture of US dollars, a complex of computer equipment for printing money and professional means of reproducing banknote security elements.
In addition, law enforcement officers found specialized money paper with watermarks affixed to it, paint and other components used to make counterfeit banknotes, computer equipment and accounting records of criminal activity. Also during the searches, more than 300 cartridges for the AK-74 were seized.
It is noted that investigative actions at all addresses took place simultaneously, more than 200 law enforcement officers were involved in their provision. As a result of the measures taken, 11 defendants were detained, who were charged and a preventive measure in the form of detention was chosen.
Operational-search measures and urgent investigative actions continue. Cases were initiated under Part 3 of Article 186 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (manufacture, storage, transportation or sale of counterfeit money or securities committed by an organized group).
Suppression of the activities of clandestine gunsmiths
In early March, the FSB announced the suppression of the work of 23 clandestine workshops for the modernization of weapons and the manufacture of ammunition in a number of Russian regions. As stated in the press release, the FSB, in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Rosgvardia, stopped the activities of 59 residents of 34 subjects of the country involved in the restoration of the combat properties of civilian weapons in underground workshops and their sale.
The FSB said that the investigative actions were carried out at the addresses of residence of illegal gunsmiths in Moscow, Sevastopol, the Karachay-Cherkess Republic, the DPR, the republics of Dagestan, Crimea, Komi, Khakassia and North Ossetia-Alania. In addition, law enforcement agencies worked in the Altai, Krasnoyarsk, Stavropol Territories, the Jewish Autonomous Region, the Amur, Belgorod, Vladimir, Voronezh, Irkutsk, Kaluga, Lipetsk, Moscow, Ryazan, Samara, Sverdlovsk, Smolensk, Tver and Tomsk regions.
As a result of illegal trafficking, 118 units of firearms of domestic and foreign production were seized, including two machine guns, 14 assault rifles, 28 rifles, carbines and shotguns, as well as other samples.
17 artillery shells and mines, more than 20 hand grenades, 15 fuses, detonators and fuses, more than 12 kg of explosives, over 13 thousand cartridges of various calibers, 118 main parts for firearms, as well as 11 units of cold weapons were found and seized.
"Work to identify and suppress illegal activities related to the illegal manufacture, alteration and sale of weapons of destruction continues," the FSB emphasized.