$11,000 and €400 seized following searches in the "mass riots" case. Men recently returned from Turkey among suspect
Police seized a total of $11,000 and €400 from the suspects in this morning's searches in the "mass riots" case, the Inspectorate General of Police (IGP) reports. Police also seized handcuffs, a substance with a specific smell of marijuana, draft documents and communication and information storage devices. These will be subject to investigation and the persons concerned by the searches will be summoned for questioning.
Officers of the Organized Crime Investigation Department of INI together with investigators of the Criminal Investigation Department and the support of employees of BPDS "Lightning" under the direction of PCCOCS prosecutors, carried out searches today in Chisinau and the north of the republic in the case of mass riots.
The IGP says the persons under investigation are men aged between 23 and 50, previously tried for swindling, drug trafficking and theft. Among the suspects, whose homes were searched, are people who recently returned to Moldova from Turkey, where they participated in training for provoking mass disorder and resisting law enforcement, using pyrotechnics and applying weapons during upcoming protests.
The searches also targeted people who applied force to law enforcement officers during the protest on 28 February, as well as those who blocked traffic on the Cricova-Chișinau route.
The mass disorder file concerns the actions of persons recruited, trained, transported and paid for participation in destabilising actions, starting from September 2022. "These include young people with athletic builds, especially athletes, organized in so-called "special groups." Their mission is to oppose violent resistance to the forces of law and order, including with the use of pyrotechnics and weapons," the IGP informs.
The criminal law provides for imprisonment from 4 to 8 years for mass riots manifested by "organising or leading mass riots, accompanied by the application of violence against persons, pogroms, arson, destruction of property, the application of firearms or other objects used as weapons, as well as violent or armed resistance to representatives of the authorities."
Previously, law enforcement officers had also carried out searches in connection with the preparation of mass riots, in which several people were detained, some suspected of bribing protesters.
