Vitebsk region police will set ambushes for illegal diggers
The Vitebsk region police are concerned about the activity of illegal diggers and the consequences of their unlawful actions in 2014, the head of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Igor Evseev, told a BELTA correspondent.
"I have repeatedly addressed this issue because we have had instances of malicious hooliganism under Article 339 of the Criminal Code, when resonant explosions occurred in Vitebsk in 2013.
But more recent facts from late 2014 are also concerning. In Dubrovno, an explosion occurred during excavation, which resulted in the death of a resident of the Orsha district. Many explosive substances were found at the scene.
In another case, an elderly resident of Tolochin was injured. Working as an engineer for a private company, he had been conducting illegal excavations for a long time and kept a whole arsenal of weapons and explosive substances in caches. During a search, he was found to have large quantities of dynamite, a pistol, over 3,500 rounds of ammunition, shells of various calibers, detonators, and more. We keep records of individuals who conduct excavations in areas of combat during the Great Patriotic War. But we only learned about this person when he was admitted to the hospital with bodily injuries due to an explosion," Igor Evseev said.
The last incident occurred in December, when a patrol service detail noticed a drunk citizen on a bench, who was found to be carrying two electric detonators when taken to a sobering-up station. A subsequent search of the suspect's home revealed a whole arsenal: a PPSh submachine gun, a sawn-off hunting rifle, improvised explosive devices, three grenades, blocks of TNT, 775 rounds of ammunition of various calibers, gunpowder, as well as components of firearms and grenades, and a homemade silencer. A criminal case has been initiated under Part 3 of Article 295 of the Criminal Code (illegal actions in relation to firearms, ammunition, and explosives) regarding the seizure of the sawn-off rifle. An investigation is underway regarding the rest of the weapons.
In total, 557 firearms were seized in the region in 2014, including 186 unregistered ones. The seventh department of the Main Directorate for Combating Organized Crime and Corruption directly uncovered 19 crimes of this category. In 12 cases, criminal cases were initiated against the involved individuals under Article 295 of the Criminal Code. Approximately 100 searches and inspections of residences were conducted, during which 19 firearms, 8 rifled firearms, over 5 thousand rounds of ammunition, over 33 kg of explosives, 285 shells, and 6 improvised explosive devices were seized from illegal circulation.
"We have been conducting the 'Arsenal' operation for many years, including in cooperation with other departments and services. I want to warn all illegal diggers that we have lists of people involved in this activity, and maps of combat operations in the region. So we will be setting up planned ambushes and stopping their excavations," concluded Igor Evseev.
Ekaterina Knyazeva