Thugs try robbing police of €80,000

Photo: Erik Prozes

What a flop: criminals decide to rob the €80,000 offered them for a drug deal, unaware it was a trap set by police.

Among the criminal circles in Tallinn, this is a story never to be forgotten – a bunch of crooks thought they were chasing after a drug dealer with mega money in the trunk. Alas: in their zeal, the robbers-to-be never noticed the police special unit chasing after themselves.

At 10:06 pm on March 27^th 2014, remarkable events unfolded near Ehitajate Road 114 office building. Endangering others in the traffic, cars coming from Järveotsa Road were switching lanes like crazy. Then came the moment when the tiny Peugeot 107 pulled to the side of an escaping Opel Astra and the guy on the passenger seat of the «Frenchman», thru open window, pointed a threatening pistol towards the guy driving the «German».

At that very instant, the Peugeot proceeded to slam the Opel into the roadside railings, forcing it to a halt. Out of the Peugeot, there jumped two sportsmanlike men in black, one with a Manhurin pistol in hand.

Knocking on the Opel window, pointing the barrel to the driver, he ordered the man out. That very instant, tyres screeching, several private-looking cars stopped to surround them. Armed with automatic weapons, police special unit staff arrived to seize the robbers.

Plenty of evidence

A man known in the underworld, Dmitri Rimm (29) managed to throw the pistol with nine cartridges under the car, but not to his benefit – police had the evidence.

There and then, Mr Rimm, a fellow thug Olivert Lääts (32) and Artur Eesik (29) still seated in the Peugeot at the time of the raid, were forcibly arrested. Not limited to them, a Vadim Semjonov (34) at Opel’s passenger seat was pinned to the asphalt as well.  Why? He also was teamed up with the robbers.

A dozen minutes later, in the Paldiski Highway 219b parking lot and at the wheel of a Nissan Qashqai, a well-known criminal Aleksandr Koljagin (29) was also apprehended as one remote-directing the recent action. The day after, the entire underworld was astir about how haplessly the young, fast and furious flopped. 

«Never encountered anything of the sort,» said Northern prefecture organised and drug crime department chief Leho Laur. He does smile recalling the incident, while noting the special operation was aimed at something totally different – to eyewitness a large-scale drug deal.

«Unexpectedly, things unfolded different, and it turned into attempted robbery,» says Mr Laur. «Even so, in this operation, the police had considered all risks. Our secret collaborator was protected by strong forces.»

Indeed. It was intended as another drug police covert operation, one among dozens. If not hundreds. True, this time the stakes were above the average. The police manipulated a situation where criminal circles got the impression that there was an individual who wanted to acquire large amounts of narcotics for international drug business.

The initial deal had taken place. 18 kilograms of methamphetamine had changed hands for tens of thousands of euros. Rushing ahead – by now, the trio that sold the drugs to police has by now been convicted in court. The main guy was sentenced seven and half years behind bars.

But, back then, there was no basis to be suspicious as outwardly all looked okay for the crooks. Thus, at the beginning of March, Vadim Semjonov contacted a police collaborator interested in buying drugs. It was agreed that via Mr Semjonov 20 kilograms of amphetamine could be purchased, priced at €80,000.

This was no ordinary deal. Mr Semjonov and his motley crew (Oliver Lääts, for one, once belonged to the Jokker gang considered among the most violent in Estonia – R. B.) scratched their heads. To their knowledge, the other party had no backing or «cover» in the criminal world, so they decided to ride right over him.

They would only pretend to make a deal. Seeing the money with own eyes, they would take it by force. The victim would have nowhere to file a complaint. Repeatedly, Mr Semjonov met the man interested in amphetamine and the details of the deal were agreed.

The date was to be March 27^th. Just before 7 pm, the police collaborator and Mr Semjonov met at the Statoil filling station at Tallinn Linnahall. The collaborator drove there in a non-flashy Opel Astra, showed the cash in the trunk, and Mr Semjonov contacted the alleged supplier of the amphetamine.

Non-stop remote control

Allegedly, all actions were overseen by Aleksandr Koljagin driving around Rocca al Mare area in his Nissan Qashqai. Hearing about the existence of the money, Mr Koljagin issued directives to the three to rob the guy.

The robbery was planned at Euro Oil gas station at Paldiski Highway 108b, to where the Opel Astra owner, with mediator Mr Semjonov, arrived at 9:55 pm and waited.

Mr Koljagin, watching it all from the Paldiski Highway Sõpruse Cafe parking lot, forwarded the information to the trio in the Peugeot which drove to stop behind the Opel at 10:02 pm. Exiting the car, three men in black attempted to open the doors of the Opel. One was waving a gun.

Taken aback, the police collaborator just managed to ask who were these. Pretending to be surprised, on passenger seat, Mr Semjonov said he had no idea. Thereafter, the Opel sped away with robbers in hot pursuit.

For the police, such development naturally came as a surprise, as they had considered a drug deal and arrest of crooks right at the filling station. Now, they had to improvise on the go. About two kilometres later, the events described at the beginning of the article unfolded. «By then, we reckoned the people had no drugs with them and this was plain robbery,» says the police unit chief Leho Laur.

In the fall, Northern district prosecutor’s office sent the criminal case to court; due to various applications by the accused, it dragged on rather long. By now, district prosecutor Vahur Verte has asked for physical imprisonment for the accused in attempted robbery from 5.5 to 8.5 years. The court will decide at the end of April.