Illegal trade in biomaterials from a hospital morgue uncovered in St. Petersburg with Rosfinmonitoring participation

Officers from the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, together with representatives of Rosfinmonitoring, dismantled a criminal scheme involving the illegal trade in biomaterials from deceased individuals.

According to data, managers of one of the city’s hospitals accepted payments over a long period and facilitated the illegal removal of body parts from deceased patients.

The perpetrators then transferred the biomaterials to various commercial organizations, which used them as test samples in cosmetology, surgery, and dentistry.

They also allowed representatives of research-oriented commercial entities to perform autopsies in the hospital morgue without completing the required documentation.

Investigators documented cases in which offenders swapped bodies of deceased individuals to prevent relatives from suspecting illegal activity by hospital management.

The Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia for Saint Petersburg opened criminal cases under Articles 286, 290, and 291 of the Russian Criminal Code.

Police detained the founder of a commercial company that specialized in producing anatomical biomodels, as well as the head of the hospital’s pathology department.

Source: Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs.