Massive $30 million bank robbery plot uncovered and stopped in Tashkent

The State Security Service reported the detention of a group of individuals attempting to steal a large sum of money from one of the banks in Tashkent.

The criminals planned to steal 370 billion UZS ($29.3 million at the current Central Bank rate) from bank accounts and plastic cards linked to the bank's application. The money was to be transferred through offshore zones to the accounts of the criminals' acquaintances abroad.

According to operational data, a 33-year-old former bank employee paid a 22-year-old acquaintance who worked as a specialist at the same bank $6,500 for access codes to the bank's software and accounts.

He then devised a theft plan in collaboration with a 51-year-old resident of the Namangan region (previously convicted three times for fraud) and a 35-year-old resident of the Tashkent region. If their plan succeeded, the criminals intended to spread false information that the bank's software had been hacked from abroad.

Officers from the Tashkent Main Directorate of Internal Affairs and the city branch of the State Security Service detained the group while attempting to convert 189 billion UZS for transfer to an offshore account. They are charged under Article 25 and point "a" of part 4 of Article 169 of the Criminal Code (theft on an especially large scale).