OREANDA-NEWS  On the morning of September 20, in St. Petersburg, economic police officers, together with operatives of the Department of their own security and investigators, conduct more than 30 searches at the places of residence of persons involved in a criminal case about taking bribes when registering vehicles.

Organized criminal activity in the field of vehicle registration was revealed as a result of operational search measures, the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region reported.

According to the investigation, the alleged criminals created special websites on which, for a monetary reward, an extraordinary and rapid provision of car registration services was offered. As it was established, part of the criminal income received in the form of bribes was transferred to the employees of the interdistrict registration examination departments (MREO) Traffic police.

"According to preliminary estimates, the annual income from the illegal scheme was estimated in tens of millions of rubles," the press service of the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

As part of the investigation of a criminal case under Article 290 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (receiving a bribe), searches are carried out at the alleged defendants, as well as at the offices of commercial firms and MREO.