Three men in Ekaterinburg have been arrested and remanded in custody on charges of kidnapping and extortion, regional court officials said.
The suspects face prosecution under Articles 126 and 163 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which cover kidnapping and extortion respectively.
A regional court ordered all three defendants to be held in pre-trial detention for a term of two months while investigators proceed with the case. According to judicial press officers speaking to Lenta.ru, the criminal activity began earlier this year in the Sverdlovsk region.
Investigators said the trio initially extorted one million rubles from a local resident between May and June. In July, the group kidnapped a 25-year-old man and demanded a ransom of one million rubles. The victim subsequently transferred the major portion of the requested money to his captors.
Police raid and weapons seized
Valery Gorelykh, head of the press service for the Sverdlovsk regional main directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, said detectives from the regional Criminal Investigation Directorate identified and detained the suspects based on operational intelligence. Tactical support for the operation was provided by officers from the SOBR special unit of Rosgvardiya.
Officers apprehended the suspects at their places of residence. Two of the men attempted to resist arrest, but police prevented them from escaping. Authorities noted that the accomplices had previous criminal convictions, with one of the suspects known by the nickname Lado. Searches of their apartments yielded several flick knives and a bat.
Law enforcement background
Ekaterinburg is the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the fourth-largest city in Russia, located near the Ural Mountains. Regional judicial authorities handle major felony investigations in the industrial hub, where pre-trial detention is standard procedure in violent crime cases.
SOBR, the Special Rapid Response Unit, is an elite tactical unit operating under Rosgvardiya, the National Guard of the Russian Federation. The unit is frequently assigned to assist criminal investigation detectives during high-risk arrest operations involving repeat offenders or armed suspects.
The three suspects remain in custody for the two-month investigative period while prosecutors compile formal evidence for trial in the Sverdlovsk regional judicial system.
