Fast loan sharks seized

Photo: Kaader videost

The sight in Rahumäe, Tallinn police house parking lot last week was rather unusual: law and order people in private clothing, having held an outwardly calm chat with three guys, pinned the latter to the ground. A criminal gang that spent these past years assuming SMS quick loans and charging instalment purchases using identities of homeless and outcasts was thus apprehended.

In the parking lot of said police building, 12 vehicles await their destiny: several SUVs from an Audi Q7 to some a bit older but totally decent. The drivers, eight men Russian speaking and mostly with earlier criminal records, have for a week been suspects in a bulky criminal case of fraud. As allowed by court, seven of these are under arrest.

Up to court, now, to decide which of the vehicles will be confiscated and which will afterwards be returned to owners. The owners, only one of which has in recent history for a brief period been officially employed, are suspected in inflicting damage of over €100,000.

Tools used by the crooks were down-and-outs from Estonia over, sought out via acquaintances and talked into doing «business».

«The most distant person was found in the isle of Saaremaa,» said Northern Prefecture serious crime department head Roger Kumm.

The fresh operation, actually, is sequel to an earlier investigation. Last summer, court jailed a coterie of crooks organising a fast loan spree with homeless and the line in Tartu and Tallinn. Those convicted included the infamous former car thief Šalva Mamutšarašvili – the so-called administrator in the gang i.e. involved with recruiting the bums of Tallinn.

Back then, the bulky investigation by Southern Prefecture, in 74 volumes, encompassed not the dealings of Mr Mamutšarašvili’s circles in Harju County. To produce evidence on that, Northern Prefecture vowed to do its utmost best – five months of hard work.

Investigators watched a bunch of guys, instead of going to work, recruiting the down-and-outs in the streets or in front of stores, fixing them the documents needed to assume quick loans or instalment payments, and thus amassing easy money.

«For instance, they assumed €8,000 worth of fast loans in the name of one individual,» said Mr Kumm.

Often, the people who agreed to cooperate never realised something criminal was underway. Instalment purchases included upholstered furniture worth €2,000, TV technology, refrigerators, other household electronic etc.  

Doing that, the participants in the business were having quite a good life. Probably, the damage caused was greater than the official €100,000 suggested.

The criminal coterie, aged 30–40, one with prior criminal record for murder and most for crimes against property, weren’t taken aback even after Mr Mamutšarašvili got arrested in the summer of 2013 regarding the Tartu case.

Instead of quietly hiding their traces, they kept on seeking and using the homeless till last week the police decided to wind up the work and apprehended the first of the guys.

By the news, the rest got stirred up. Under the eyes of the police covertly watching, three of them gathered in the Rahumäe police parking lot to discuss the situation. Why there? Because, by that morning, the fourth fellow in the gang had been invited to that building for proceedings of his alleged traffic violation.

While the man was explaining the traffic thing, partners-in-crime convened in the parking lot for discussions. There, they were taken by police in surprise attack.

What followed were searches in homes, arrest of assets and cash gained by means criminal, and the like. The items seized are from one extreme to other – from epilators to infrared saunas.

According to Mr Kumm from the serious crimes department, there’s reason to ling the men arrested with over 50 criminal episodes. Probably, the number may greatly multiply.

Comment

Diana Helila, Northern district prosecutor

In some cases, the people used in the scheme got €100–€300, but sometimes just a bottle of vodka or beer. Meanwhile, the suspects used them to draw fast loans of an average of €2,000–€3,000, plus the electronics purchased with instalment payments.  

Based on information amassed thus far, the scheme was in operation for years. Brief pauses only occurred as some of those involved were arrested.

The suspects went without significant legal income and, as a rule, their spouses or unmarried partners were not working; nevertheless, they lived well and the homes were furnished with state-of-the-art technology.