The day before, all local and a number of federal media outlets were spreading the news about the arrest of the deputy chief of the Ministry of Internal Affairs - Bryansk police chief Yuri Sokolov for attempting to take a bribe on an especially large scale. According to sources of Rucriminal.info, the reason for these serious actions on the part of employees of the Russian Investigative Committee for the Bryansk Region were statements and testimony of persons who sold smuggled tobacco products and alcoholic beverages in the Bryansk Region.
Taking into account the border location to the Republic of Belarus, for decades caravans of trucks of unregistered tobacco products passed through the Bryansk region, which were packaged there and later, through transport companies, flooded the markets of almost the entire country. According to a 2020 study, Bryansk was among the top five cities with the largest share of illegal cigarettes, the black market of which reached 59.41%.
The dynamics of the work of the security forces of the Bryansk region in the fight against counterfeit cigarettes in recent years is at least respectable. Official statistics on bringing persons to justice for committing these crimes is as follows: 2019 – 8 persons, 2020 – 15 persons, 2021 – 34 persons, 2022 – 45 persons, 2023 – already 42 persons. So in 2021, 12 members of an organized criminal community who organized the false transit of Belarusian cigarettes into the territory of the Russian Federation found themselves in the dock. In 2023, 15 members of another organized crime group were brought to criminal responsibility for organizing the production of counterfeit cigarettes in the city of Bryansk.
Losing the opportunity to freely import and produce counterfeit products on the territory of Bryansk, the profitability of which is second only to drugs and weapons, local smugglers declared open war on law enforcement officers. The following persons led this fight against the security bloc:
Alexey Petrashevich. In 2015, he was prosecuted under Art. 264 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for hitting a police officer at a pedestrian crossing, who died from his injuries.
Victor Kapitsa, in 2020 was prosecuted under Art. 69, 171.1, 180 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Sentenced to a real term of imprisonment.
Alexey Ustrehov, worked in the departments of the Organized Crime Control Department, the Department of Economic Crimes of the Internal Affairs Directorate for the Bryansk Region, and supervised the line of combating smuggling in the border areas of the Bryansk Region. Dismissed from the authorities for negative reasons.
Denis Leonov. He was brought to criminal liability under Art. 199 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Suspected of committing fraudulent actions and stealing more than 500 million rubles. He is under house arrest. He lives permanently with his father’s family in a NATO country – Bulgaria. Dwelling on Leonov’s personality, it should be noted that he was engaged not in tobacco, but in alcoholic products. Previously, detailed information about his illegal activities had already appeared in the media.
According to sources of Rucriminal.info, in relation to the above-mentioned persons, criminal cases are being processed by the investigative authorities of the Bryansk region, which are suspended or veiled.
So, these people with a dubious biography are currently observed almost daily at the threshold of the regional building of the Investigative Committee of Russia. Based on their statements, several dubious criminal cases have been initiated, which, as it became known, do not have an operational component and are based solely on contradictory testimony. The situation seems absurd, but at the same time, police officers are subject to criminal liability.
It should be noted that Sokolov is already the second high-ranking police officer to be subjected to criminal prosecution without compelling reasons. The first is an employee of the Regional Internal Affairs Directorate, who, according to investigators, illegally used handcuffs against a repeat drug addict!
Without the intervention of federal structures in this situation that has developed in the border region, the state of affairs in the region is expected to be critical! There is a redistribution of the spheres of influence of the security forces and an attempt to resume the smuggling of tobacco and alcohol.
Denis Zhirnov
To be continued
Source: www.rucriminal.info
