Crime in Estonia
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There are several criminal organizations operating in Estonia. Each of these groups has at least ten active members, and the largest ones are thought to have close to one hundred members.
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[edit] Crime organizations
[edit] The Common Fund
The Common Fund is a traditional umbrella organisation of criminal groups, a trade union of sorts which settles conflicts and establishes the boundaries of the spheres of interest of the various groups. The group also helps imprisoned members.
[edit] The Council
The Council is the Estonian-language equivalent of the Common Fund and mainly comprises young Estonian businessmen, who help in the transit of large consignments of drugs, and who are also involved in other types of economic crime.
[edit] The Estonians' Group
The Estonians' Group (also known as Linnuvabrik's group after a village near Estonia's capital) is a disparate gang because the leaders of its different factions are in conflict with each other. The group specialises in the international drugs trade, car theft, and economic crime in the Nordic countries and Western Europe.
[edit] The Kemerovo Group
The strongest group, the Kemerovo group, operates in the drug business, prostitution, car theft, and extortion. The group has four main figures, of whom one is above the rest. This mainly ethnic Russian criminal group has begun to spread out into the Nordic countries.
[edit] The Stasi Group
The Stasi Group is an ethnic Russian gang which specialises in stealing cars and selling them back to their owners.
[edit] The Okun Group
The Okun Group, named after its boss, is involved in extortion, larceny, and car theft. The members have close ties with criminal elements in Russia.
[edit] The Azeri Group
The Azeri Group comprises about 50 men from Azerbaijan, and focuses on the heroin business. They work together with fellow Azeris in the Nordic and the Baltic countries.
[edit] Jewellery theft
Armed robberies and burglaries of European jewellery stores is a speciality of Estonian criminal organizations. The trend was started by Raivo Roosna and Aleks Lepajõe who robbed the Tillander store in Helsinki in 1985. In December 2006, it was estimated that Estonian criminals were responsible for 140 robberies of jewellery and watch stores in Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Sweden during the last three years. The value of the lost property is estimated to be 25 million Euros.[1]
[edit] References
- ^ Kuusi kultaryöstöa kahdessa vuodessa, Helsingin Sanomat, December 20 2006, page A13
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