All news

Khimki warehouse raid mastermind was extremist organisation chief

All the detained persons come from the Caucasus republics. Operatives seized three Makarov pistols at the crime scene

MOSCOW, March 29 (Itar-Tass) — One of the organisers of a robbery raid on a warehouse in Khimki, committed a month ago, was the leader of an extremist organisation, and money stolen by the gang were transferred to illegal armed groups. The press service of the Moscow region’s main interior department told Itar-Tass that the operation to arrest the leader of the gang was conducted by operatives of the Moscow region’s police criminal investigation department jointly with officers of the Federal Security Service (FSB) department.

The attack on a warehouse in Zavodskaya Street in Khimki was staged on February 29. Police officers received information about a planned robbery of a commercial company’s cash office. “Operatives of the criminal investigation department and fighters of the Interior Ministry special forces laid an ambush on the second floor of the company building and placed there a dummy simulating a security guard. When the criminals went up and fired a shot at the dummy, the police asked them to surrender; however, in response the gangsters hurled two explosive devices at the policemen. One of the explosives wounded a fighter of the police special force. Five criminals were shot dead on the spot by return fire and three others were detained during a chase,” the Moscow Region police said earlier.

All the detained persons come from the Caucasus republics. Operatives seized three Makarov pistols at the crime scene. Criminal proceedings were instituted over the robbers’ assault under two articles of the RF Criminal Code: “Armed Robbery” and “Offering Resistance to Law Enforcement Officers.”

“The criminal group leader Ramzan Shaikhayev, nicknamed ‘Abdullah’ was detained in the special operation. He is an informal religious leader and ideologist of the international extremist organisation Al Takfir Wal-Hijra, that was banned by the Russian Supreme Court banned,” the press service of the main interior department said.

During the interrogation of the detainees the police found out that money acquired by criminal means was intended to finance the bandit groups in Russia.

It has also been established that all the crime participants adhere to the takfir (the accusation of infidelity) radical ideology of Islam. During the search police seized from them literature preaching a radical branch of Islam, the police department said.