Volgograd: GIBDD inspector accused of setting up network of illegal gambling clubs

In Volgograd, four local residents, including a state GIBDD (road traffic police) inspector, are accused of organizing a network of underground gambling clubs in the city.

"Their criminal grouping was organized by a 41-year-old resident of Volgograd, according to preliminary data, in 2011. The man involved his brother and two friends - a GIBDD inspector among them, as well as other persons, so far unidentified by the investigation," Natalia Kunitskaya, the press secretary of the ICRF's Department for the Volgograd Region, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Illegal gambling was executed through terminals, connected to the Internet. The suspects managed to illegally earn more than 65 million roubles, investigators assert.

According to Ms Kunitskaya, "a criminal case has been initiated against the members of the organized criminal grouping." They are suspected of committing a crime under points "a" and "b", part 2, Article 171.2 of the Russian Criminal Code: "Organization and holding gambling games through the Internet associated with extraction of large-scale incomes, committed by an organized group".

At present, as reported by Natalia Kunitskaya, the suspects' clubs and residences are searched. In the coming days, the court will appoint a freedom restraint measure for them.

Let us remind you that the federal law on prohibiting the gambling business came into force in Russia on July 1, 2009. By the law, all the gambling clubs should be closed or move to special gambling territories.