Russian police have detained Taras Gradil, the 48-year-old leader of an organized crime group accused of extortion, beatings and intimidating residents in Novouralsk.
Law enforcement authorities launched a broader operation targeting the organized crime group, which comprised around 20 members who worked as door security staff at entertainment venues across the local area.
According to a law enforcement source cited by Russian news agency RIA Novosti, the gang recruited young people to carry out face control at nightspots in Novouralsk and neighboring Verkh-Neyvinsky.
Investigators found that the group used its position to engage in systematic extortion. Members issued high-interest loans secured by written receipts before forcibly transferring victims' personal property into their own names.
The group also illegally seized financial payments intended for servicemen taking part in Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, according to the report.
Extortion and fraud investigation
Authorities have opened a formal criminal case against the group under statutory provisions of the Russian Criminal Code governing fraud committed by an organized group.
Novouralsk is a closed industrial city located in Sverdlovsk Oblast in the Ural Mountains region of Russia, situated adjacent to the urban settlement of Verkh-Neyvinsky. Nightlife venues and entertainment establishments in Russian towns frequently employ private security staff to manage door access under a practice known locally as face control.
RIA Novosti is a major state-owned news agency based in Moscow that covers domestic security operations, court cases and law enforcement actions across the Russian Federation. The term special military operation is the official Russian designation for the country's ongoing military campaign in Ukraine, under which active servicemen receive official government compensation and benefit payments.
Similar crimes targeting military payouts
The crackdown in Sverdlovsk Oblast follows previous reports of organized criminal schemes targeting military payouts in other Russian regions. A separate criminal gang operating in Karachay-Cherkessia stole 35 million rubles by arranging fraudulent marriages with soldiers serving in the conflict, according to earlier reporting.
Karachay-Cherkessia is a federal republic located in the North Caucasus region of southern Russia. Russian law enforcement agencies and investigative bodies continue to investigate organized financial crimes involving servicemen's benefit payments across the country.
