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.
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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.
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?