A member of the criminal group Makena, who was put on the wanted list in 2013, was arrested by the police in Straseni. He was sentenced to jail for robbery committed with special cruelty, IPN reports.

According to the General Police Inspectorate, Vitalie Pereu, 49, who is from Straseni town and lived in Chisinau municipality, got 12 years in December 2013. The sentence was passed in his absence, his whereabouts being unknown. The man was then listed as wanted.

As a result of investigations, the police established that the men was responsible for recruiting new members of the criminal group and of collecting funds for the organization, including by extortion.

The convict was handed over to the Department of Penitentiary Institutions for this to serve time in jail.

The criminal organization Makena was founded in 1999 by Vladimir Moscalciuc, who was convicted and held in different prisons of the country. The group members blackmailed other convicts, threatening these with death, and made them pay large sums of money.