YEKATERINBURG, February 1 (Itar-Tass) — A court in the town of Kurgan handed down a guilty verdict for the members of the criminal group that attacked a money collector's car last December, killing the driver and stealing 1.5 million roubles.
The aggregate jail term for Vyacheslav Yeremenchuk, Salavat Kazyyev and Yuri Kuzminykh is 49 years, the press service of the Interior Ministry's main department for the Ural Federal District told Itar-Tass on Wednesday.
The court found them guilty of murder, robbery, banditry and illegal carrying of firearms.
According to the investigator, the group was set up for attacks on Russian Post money collectors, who brought money to the postal telegraph office in the village of Temlyakovo for the payment of pensions, allowances and wages.
"Yeremenchuk earlier worked as a Russian post guard, and was well-versed in the specifics of this work, the routes of money collectors' movements and the amount of ferried money. The wrongdoers worked out a detailed plan to attack money collectors," the press service said.
On December 11, 2010, the gangers, having armed themselves with knives and a sawn-off shotgun, ambushed a Russian Post car, which pulled up at a rural administration building. As soon as the money collector got out of the car, the attackers overpowered him and locked him in the building. They planned to take the money in the car but encountered active resistance on the part of the driver. The man died of stab and gunshot wounds. The attackers escaped with 1.5 million roubles.
"Police caught the criminals soon after the murder, and fully recovered the stolen money," a regional law-enforcement officer underlined.
Yremenchuk was sentenced to 19 years in a maximum security penitentiary, Kazyyev was sentenced to 18 years and Kuzminykh - to 12 years. The court ordered them to compensate funeral arrangements to the family of the killed driver and the repairs of the damaged Russian Post car.