In the Karaganda region, the activities of an organised criminal group suspected of systematically stealing diesel fuel have been shut down.
According to Polisia.kz, the suspects were operating on the territory of the Ashchisu station in the Bukhar-Zhyrau district. During operational and search activities, police officers identified 28 episodes of fuel and lubricant theft from railway rolling stock.
Law enforcement agencies detained 17 alleged participants of the illegal activity.
During 14 searches, approximately half a tonne of diesel fuel, empty containers for transportation, as well as an unregistered firearm, which had been listed as missing since 2017 in one of the units of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, were seized. Law enforcement officers also found 26 rounds of ammunition, 7 mobile phones and narcotic substances.
A criminal case has been opened regarding the thefts. Investigative actions are ongoing, and all circumstances of the criminal activity are being established.
For context, earlier in the Turkestan region, a sentence was handed down to a criminal group that dug a tunnel on the Kazakh-Uzbek border for the smuggling of petroleum products.