Video: Store Manager Demands $1,000 from Parents of Girls Who Stole Candy

On March 4, operational information was received at the Bazum police department regarding extortion. A 30-year-old manager of one of the city’s supermarkets had caught underage girls stealing candy from the store on February 13. He took them to the supermarket’s storage area using force and illegally deprived them of their freedom against their will.

The police press office reports that the man called and summoned the girls' mothers. He demanded $1,000 from them to avoid reporting the incident to the police and to prevent the spread of damaging information about their children. The women reported that they were in a difficult social situation and eventually agreed that each would pay the manager 100,000 drams monthly.

Operational information was also received that the 30-year-old manager regularly called the women demanding money. Officers from the Bazum division collaborated with the police departments of the Lori region and forensic experts.

On March 4, one of the women handed over 60,000 drams, pre-arranged by experts, to the supermarket’s 29-year-old director on Tigran Mets Avenue in Vanadzor.

As a result of the operational-investigative measures, the supermarket director and his father were detained by the Bazum police. The manager was also found and detained on Builders Street in Vanadzor.

During the personal search of the director, traces of chemical powder were found on his hands and clothing using ultraviolet light. The manager's personal search revealed droppers with ash-like traces, a secret knife, and a cigarette box containing a package resembling marijuana.

A search of the 'Mercedes' vehicle discovered 60,000 drams marked 'extortion'. The investigation of the criminal case is ongoing.