NZ police helping monitor incursion of Russian gangsters

New Zealand police are working with Australian authorities, the FBI, and Interpol to root out Russian gangsters -- including former KGB agents -- which have infiltrated Australasia, Australian Federal Police (AFP) say.

Sydney's Sunday Telegraph reports the Russian gangsters have been establishing extortion, gun-running and prostitution rackets, and are also involved in fraud, drugs and blackmail, according to Australia's national police force and the Australian Crime Commission.

Russian criminals renowned for their audacity and efficiency, have already established a foothold in Australia, according to a report from the two agencies. The report said some of the criminals were former members of the KGB, where they learned skills such as debugging, computer hacking and strategic recruitment.

Their activities in Australia have so far centred on Sydney, especially Bondi, and the Gold Coast, and extortion victims have mainly involved members of the emigre Russian community. Australia's Customs Minister Chris Ellison said AFP, in conjunction with New Zealand police and other partner agencies domestically and internationally, was conducting "pro-active initiatives" to monitor the Russian criminals and garner a greater understanding of their threat.

Two years ago, Russian gangsters kidnapped a wealthy New Zealand company director, Nikolai Valentinovitch, 59, while he was visiting Vladivostok.

Mr Valentinovitch was living in a $1.6 million home at Remuera, in Auckland when he disappeared on July 20, 2003 . Moscow newspaper Moskovski Komsolets reported Mr Valentinovitch was former co-owner of the Rassi group of companies in Russia, with interests in oil, and at least two of his business partners were former KGB officers.

"About six months ago, Mr Valentinovitch was visited in New Zealand by a former assistant manager of the KGB who met with him and other former business partners," the newspaper reported at the time.

Last year, a lawyer for two Russians who arrived in New Zealand on stolen Israeli passports told a New Zealand court they had been advised by "Mafia types"' this country was a soft touch.

Oleksandr Prodan and Oleksandr Bolotov paid $10,000 for stolen Israeli passports in the Ukrainian city of Kiev but were arrested early in March last year at Auckland. They were sentenced to jail for four months on passport and fraud charges in Manukau District Court, but released almost immediately.

Separately, a Russian-born Israeli, Victor Chechelnitski, 34, was jailed for three and a half years after he admitted bringing three Ukrainians into the country with false Israeli passports in January last year.

The three Ukrainians paid about $12,000 each to a Ukranian associate of Chechelnitski and were given a false Israel passport and schooled on Jewish phrases and what to say to New Zealand authorities.

- NZPA