Izhevsk resident detained for stealing valuables from churches

Police detained a resident of Izhevsk, who stole valuables from churches in Udmurtia in 2024. This was reported by the Interior Ministry on December 28.

The investigation found that in the period from January to September 2024, the attacker entered the temples under the guise of a parishioner, talked to the clergy and put candles, and then took valuables caught in sight and left.

"The objects of his criminal encroachments were many gold jewelry donated by parishioners, the Kazan icon of the Mother of God and a box for donations. The total amount of damage caused amounted to almost 600 thousand rubles," - said in the message of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, published in Telegram-channel.

As it turned out later, the attacker sold stolen valuables in pawnshops in Izhevsk. However, part of the valuables was seized from him.

"The location of the icon and the box for donations is being established," - added in the Department.

The man is taken into custody. He is accused under parts 1 and 3 of article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Theft on a particularly large scale").

As the head of the secretariat of the Izhevsk and Udmurtia diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) Archpriest Roman Voskresenskikh noted, the parishioners and clergy of the republic took the news about the return of the stolen valuables with joy. He also thanked the police officers for their high professionalism and conscientious work.

In July, police detained a woman who stole an icon of St. Gabriel from the Church of St. Sergius of Radonezh in Rogozhskaya Sloboda in Moscow. The crime was committed in March in the church on Nikoloyamskaya Street. The woman, choosing a moment when no one was watching her, took the icon, hid it under her jacket and fled with the stolen object. According to the perpetrator, she wanted to solve her roommate's health problems with the help of the icon.