Officers of Russian MIA together with colleagues from Belgorod Region and St. Petersburg suppressed the channel of sale of counterfeit money

'Operatives of the Main Directorate of Economic Security and Combatting Corruption of the Russian MIA, together with colleagues from the Belgorod Region and the city of St. Petersburg, with the assistance of the regional departments of the FSB of Russia, suppressed a channel of selling counterfeit money.

The police learned that in February of this year more than 100 counterfeit banknotes with the face value of 5,000 rubles were received by post from St. Petersburg. In the course of a complex of operational-search measures, police officers identified the senders. While trying to sell counterfeit bank notes in the city of St. Petersburg, the suspects, two local residents, were detained. Another offender was detained in the city of Pushkin. In his car, operatives found a large batch of counterfeit banknotes.

Counterfeit money totaling more than 6 million rubles was seized from the illegal trafficking.

The Investigative Department of the MIA of Russia Administration for the Belgorod Region and the Investigative Unit of the MIA of Russia Division for the Pushkinsky District of St. Petersburg have instituted criminal cases on the grounds of a crime under Article 186 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Placement to custody was selected as the preventive measure for the detainees.

The criminal scheme was revealed during the investigation of the criminal case against other counterfeiters instituted earlier by the Investigative unit of the MIA of Russia Administration for the Belgorod Region. Four offenders were detained between November 2020 and February 2021. More than a thousand counterfeit $U.S. banknotes worth more than 5 million rubles were seized from them.

The gang members are charged with the crime under part 3 of Article 186 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. The court have already found two of them guilty of the alleged act. The criminal case against the third defendant has been sent to the court for consideration on the merits, and the fourth case is under investigation,' said the official representative of the MIA of Russia Irina Volk.