Moscow region "werewolves"

Unscrupulous police officers showed up in Noginsk

The hunt for “werewolves in uniform”, announced at the beginning of the summer by the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, has reached the Moscow region. On August 13, in Noginsk, a high-ranking officer of the local police department was detained red-handed while receiving a bribe. The operation was carried out by employees of the Department of Internal Affairs of the Moscow Region Department of Internal Affairs together with the Moscow Directorate of the FSB and the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to unofficial information from the special services, the head of the criminal investigation department of the Noginsk Internal Affairs Directorate, police lieutenant colonel Mikhail Smesov, was detained.

According to investigators, some time ago Mr. Smesov was approached by a local businessman who was engaged in the trade of non-ferrous metals and who became a victim of robbers. As expected, his statement about the crime was accepted and a criminal case was opened. But, obviously, believing that the police would not just try hard to look for robbers and stolen property - about 60 thousand dollars in total - the businessman asked the head of the criminal investigation department for “informal” assistance. The entrepreneur promised that if the detectives could find his property and money, he was ready to give them a certain percentage of the “premium.” The lieutenant colonel allegedly agreed to help the grief, and, according to unofficial information, the parties agreed that what was found would be divided in half.

However, according to investigators, without bothering themselves with the search for the real criminals, the Noginsk police, at the instigation of their boss, began to “press” two acquaintances of the robbed businessman’s compatriots, also small entrepreneurs. One of them was already in a local temporary detention center (temporary detention center) on another criminal case, and the police “identified” the second in the prisoner’s notebook. He was immediately detained under a far-fetched pretext - allegedly for vagrancy (although he had documents and registration). The “tramp” was taken to a temporary detention facility (and not to a reception center, as required by law) and began to be “stabbed.”

The investigation has evidence that the unfortunate man was periodically beaten with baseball bats and boxing gloves - the fact of severe beatings was recorded by a medical examination. A few days later, the man “broke down” and agreed to “repay” the damage he did not cause. He was immediately released to collect money, without documenting his release from the temporary detention facility, although he was placed there, albeit on formal, but legal grounds - according to a report from a police officer and with the sanction of the prosecutor's office. And the victim of police lawlessness returned to the office of the head of the criminal investigation department already with marked bills.

The police lieutenant colonel carefully counted the 12 thousand dollars and 12 thousand rubles brought by the victim and prepared to put them in the safe, but at that moment he was detained by CSB and FSB operatives. So far, a criminal case has been initiated by the Noginsk prosecutor’s office under Art. 286 part 3 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - abuse of official powers. Although, taking all the circumstances into account, the intelligence services do not rule out that as the investigation progresses, the “bouquet” of charges against Lieutenant Colonel Smesov may grow.

Yaroslav ZORIN