Peculiar new crime spree confuses Moscow car owners
Police officers in Moscow have reported a new type of “car crime”, in which extortionists put a bag of salt into a vehicle and a note to transfer money to an account. If the request isn’t fulfilled, they threaten to place drugs next time.
The first such case occurred with a 40-year-old woodworker Stanislav in an underground parking lot. On April 2, he parked his Chevrolet Lacetti – upon return, the man found a note on the steering wheel. It asked to transfer 30,000 rubles ($520 USD) to the specified account by 23:00 on the same day, otherwise they would frame the man for drug dealing and throw in cocaine or hashish.
Under the driving seat mat, there was a bag of white substance, which after investigation turned out to be salt.
The police suspect this is being carried out by a gang of people as it is not the only occurrence, and has been carefully planned – the extortionists knew the location of cameras in the parking area, and threw in notes only into those vehicles that are out of view.
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How they opened the car door is not yet known. It is assumed that they temporarily disabled the security system (which can be time consuming). The police suspect someone with a good understanding of mechanics is involved.
The question is – isn’t it much more expensive to “throw in” a bag of cocaine to each person who doesn’t oblige – than to receive $520 on the off chance someone falls for it?