Italy extradited a citizen of Russia to Ukraine — he was wanted to be held criminally responsible for organizing a scheme to steal cars and demand money from their owners for their return.
This was reported by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.
The suspect, who was detained in Italy in 2023, was brought to Ukraine in cooperation with Polish law enforcement officers.
The investigation established that the person involved in the car theft scheme involved several people who offered the owners of stolen cars to return them for half the price in a Telegram chat. If they refused to pay, then the participants of the scheme sold them for spare parts, changing the license plates of frames, bodies and units before doing so.
Those who agreed to pay to have their car returned transferred money to electronic wallets of various crypto services.
In August 2022, law enforcement officers stopped the activities of car thieves. More than 50 searches were conducted in the territory of nine regions. Five participants of the scheme were informed of the suspicion, and the organizer was declared an international wanted man. He was already convicted in Russia, because he stole cars from the age of 15 and knew how to start a car without keys. In his Telegram channel, the person involved also sold special equipment for breaking into cars, and held master classes on social networks.
The Russian is currently being held in custody with the right to post bail in the amount of 15 million 140 thousand hryvnias.