From Ingushetia to a Moscow Pre-Trial Detention Center: Court Orders Arrest of Suspect in "Apartment Gang" Case

The Zamoskvoretsky District Court has ordered the arrest of Magomet Mutsolgov, a 56-year-old native of Ingushetia whom investigators identify as a member of a criminal group involved in Moscow real estate fraud. According to law enforcement, members of the scheme kidnapped apartment owners and coerced them into transferring property rights; some of the victims subsequently died.

As reported by *Kommersant*, Mutsolgov was detained in Ingushetia by officers from the FSB and the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the North Caucasian Federal District. He was then transported to Moscow, where the court remanded him in custody. Mutsolgov faces charges under three articles of the Russian Criminal Code—Articles 126, 163, and 105—covering kidnapping, extortion, and murder.

According to the Investigative Committee, one of the incidents dates back to 2014. Investigators believe that Mutsolgov, acting with relatives, kidnapped a Moscow apartment owner and forced him to transfer property rights, after which the man was drugged. The victim subsequently died.

Investigators are examining whether Mutsolgov was involved in other similar crimes. Case files indicate that the alleged group included brothers Aslan, Askhab, Ruslan, Yakub, and Magomet Mutsolgov, along with other suspects. Investigators believe the group had been operating in the Moscow region since 2007.

According to *Kommersant*, an attempt to detain Mutsolgov had already been made late last year. At that time, he jumped from the window of a third-floor apartment in Moscow, sustaining severe injuries; he underwent hospital treatment and subsequently went into hiding. He has now been detained and arrested once again. The outlet *Kavkaz.Realii* notes that the detained individual is a member of the Ingush Batal-Khadzhi community. While the so-called "combat wing" of the followers of the Batal-Khadzhi Belkhoroev religious movement has been designated a terrorist organization in Russia, the community itself and its followers are not identical to that structure.

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