He went to jail: the organizer of the gang from Sheremetyevo received 18 years in prison

The Khimki court sentenced seven members of a criminal group that was involved in robberies, fraud and thefts at Sheremetyevo airport. They received from eight to 18 years in prison. According to investigators, the OPS included not only beggars, taxi drivers and crime bosses, but also employees of the local police department. In total, 40 defendants were charged, and the case file totals 27 volumes. The cases of the remaining members of the group continue to be considered in court. Details of the investigation can be found in the Izvestia article.

The gang of beggars

The first verdict in the case of OPS was handed down by the Khimki City Court of the Moscow Region on October 30. Zoya Cherepovskaya, Rimma Poludanova, Azalia Akhmadullina, as well as Kristina and Natalia Soldatenko, were the direct perpetrators of schemes to extort money from the SVR fighters. The leaders of this brigade were tried together with them.: Dmitry Boglaev, nicknamed Sportik, and Ruslan Khusenov, nicknamed Ahmed.

The ordinary participants received from eight to 10 years in prison, while "Sportik" and "Ahmed" received 18 and 17 years in prison, respectively.

Photo: TASS/Andrey Lyubimov

According to the investigation, all the convicts were part of an extensive group operating in Sheremetyevo. It was organized between 2018 and 2022 by Igor Bardin, Alexey Kabochkin and Yuri Korolev. The main activity of the OPS was the theft of money from passengers arriving at the international airport.

In 2022, after the start of a special military operation, gang members began actively stealing money from combat veterans arriving in Moscow. So, Sportik's team supervised the work of the beggars. The women who were part of it presented themselves as refugees from the Lugansk People's Republic and, under various pretexts, extorted funds from passengers. Most often, they asked for money to buy tickets or help starving relatives.

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The leader of the organized criminal group disappeared from the field of view of the investigation

Criminal legal entity

The beggars, as the investigation is sure, were only one of the structural divisions of the large-scale OPS, which included at least 40 people. To legalize the presence of gang members on the territory of the airport, the head of the criminal community, Kabochkin, created Vega Group LLC and headed it himself. Through the company, the accomplices were given parking cards that allowed them to freely enter Sheremetyevo. Kabochkin himself received weekly proceeds from criminal activities.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Eduard Kornienko

As follows from the case file, the OPS was divided into several brigades, each of which specialized in a specific area. In addition to the beggars, there were also taxi drivers in the group. According to investigators, they also tried to attract participants of their trips, and then fraudulently inflated the cost of services.

As follows from the case file, one of the drivers drove a combat veteran from Sheremetyevo to the Kazan railway station for 40 thousand rubles, naming the price only upon arrival. Another offered the participant to buy a ticket for 11 thousand rubles, and then took possession of his phone, contacted the man's mother and demanded to transfer 80 thousand rubles, allegedly for a ticket and assistance with escorting the flight. In other episodes, taxi drivers initially told veterans the acceptable cost of the trip, but increased it several times upon arrival.

According to the investigation, the bandits were assisted in committing crimes by employees of the Sheremetyevo Airport police department. They not only searched for potential victims, but also hindered the investigation: after the theft of money, they refused to initiate cases based on the victims' statements.

In total, four police officers were charged. They are charged with fraud, organizing a criminal community, illegal acquisition, transfer, sale and possession of weapons, abuse of official authority and forgery. Their case is also being considered by the Khimki City Court.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Mikhail Tereshchenko

The investigation believes that the connection between the OPS and the police was coordinated by Igor Rusin, nicknamed Zelik. He is charged with 40 counts of various crimes. The leader of the group, Alexei Kabochkin, nicknamed Ryazanets (as indicated in the case file — approx. Izvestia) in June of this year confessed to the creation and leadership of the OPS. Most of the other gang members partially admitted their guilt.

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About 500 thousand people lost their savings, the damage was estimated at 9.64 billion rubles.

Classics of the genre

Airports and train stations do not have a high crime rate, but they attract many naive passengers, which is what the attackers use. Lawyer Vadim Bagaturia told Izvestia about this.

— These are places of attraction for residents of the province and people who do not have enough life experience for a big city. This situation is typical not only for our country, but also for large cities around the world. Imagine any Russian tourist at a foreign airport — he may also encounter similar schemes. Clofeliners, false taxi drivers and other scammers are the favorite methods of criminals," the expert noted.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Konkov

According to Bagaturia, even a large number of cameras, enhanced security measures and the diligent work of law enforcement officers do not guarantee the detection of all violations. Employees may not have enough resources, and some crimes are not detected immediately.