MOSCOW, January 17./ITAR-TASS/. The deputy chief of a Moscow district police department suspected of covering up illegal gambling business, has absconded during the investigation, spokeswoman for the Russian Investigative Committee’s Moscow department, Viktoria Tsyplenkova, said on Friday.

According to investigators, Konstantin Glazov, deputy head of the Biryulyovo Vostochnoye district police department, “had been receiving money for covering up a gambling house,” she said. Criminal proceedings have been launched against the policeman under Article 290 of the Russian Criminal Code (bribe taking). Police are trying to establish his whereabouts, Tsyplenkova said.

Earlier reports said Interior Ministry’s chief department for economic security and fight against corruption joined forces with police from Moscow’s South-Eastern Administrative District and busted an ethnic group suspected of organizing a network of gambling houses in Moscow and its region.

According to the Interior Ministry’s press centre, more than 10 gambling houses were uncovered during a large-scale search operation. They were located in different Moscow districts as well as in the towns of Orekhovo-Zuevo, Zhukovsky, Yegorievsk, Ramenskoye and Reutov outside Moscow.

The illegal business had been organized by natives of Georgia and Russia’s Udmurt Republic, who controlled the activity of clubs remotely. Managers were daily sending sms-texts, giving the sum of proceeds as well as the number of clients.

According to law enforcement officers, Konstantin Glazov was also part of that criminal group, covering up illegal casinos.