Full Arsenal: Colt, Marijuana, and Explosives—Nizhny Novgorod Resident Received Weapon Parts from the US

May 14, GTRK “Nizhny Novgorod”. Investigators were working on a murder case when they uncovered an underground business. A resourceful Nizhny Novgorod resident will spend the next 11 years in a high-security penal colony.

When investigators opened a criminal case regarding a missing local man, they had no idea what it would lead to. In October 2015, the police were contacted by the family of a young man who had not returned home after a meeting. While checking all of the missing man’s connections, investigators came across a suspicious individual who could have been involved in the disappearance of the 28-year-old.

According to the press service of the Investigative Committee for the Nizhny Novgorod region, in October 2015, on the grounds of the “Neftyanik” gardening cooperative on Yasnaya Street in the Sormovsky district of Nizhny Novgorod, the defendant, during an argument with an associate, fired two shots from a firearm at his accomplice. He then loaded the victim into his car and fled the scene.

Investigators believe the argument was related to a conflict over their illegal drug activities.

Thanks to the proactive efforts of the Investigative Committee, who conducted extensive investigative work (searches, interrogations, forensic examinations), and in cooperation with FSB officers for the Nizhny Novgorod region, the defendant’s involvement in the victim’s criminal death was established and proven.

The deeper the investigation went, the more surprises awaited the investigators. During the investigation, the Investigative Committee, together with FSB officers, discovered that in 2016 the defendant illegally imported firearm components from the United States into Russia. He falsely declared the contents of the packages as car spare parts.

During searches of his home and garage, investigators seized illegally stored firearms: a rifled, multi-shot pistol of 11.43 mm caliber designed for Colt pistol cartridges, as well as major parts for foreign-made firearms. Explosives were also found and seized in the basement of his house.

Investigators also established that the defendant was growing marijuana in his apartment and garages. Marijuana, classified as a narcotic substance, was seized during the search.

In October 2016, he was detained and taken into custody.

Investigators from the Sormovsky District Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod region proved in court that the 34-year-old resident was guilty of crimes including attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and their main parts, illegal importation of firearm parts across the Customs Union border within the Eurasian Economic Community, illegal possession of narcotic substances in significant quantities without intent to sell, and illegal possession of explosives.

The court sentenced the defendant to 11 years and 5 months in a high-security penal colony. The verdict has not yet entered into legal force.