MOSCOW, August 1 (RAPSI) – All nine members of the so-called “GTA Gang” standing charged with banditry, murder, robbery, illegal manufacturing and possession of firearms have pleaded partially guilty and are ready to testify, RAPSI learnt in the Moscow Regional Court on Monday.

According to investigators, in March 2012 Ibaydullo Suyhanov organized a gang in the Moscow Region. The gang consisted of at least 15 people from Central Asian countries. Allegedly, defendants in the case were behaving without raising anyone’s suspicions. They worked as taxi drivers, construction workers, guards, many of them had families.

Prosecutors claim that in 2012-2014 the gang committed 15 robberies that resulted in murder of 17 people and attempted murder of another two. Also, the gang was allegedly behind numerous attacks against automobile drivers. Allegedly the criminals were installing handmade spikes on the roads, causing drivers to stop, and murdered the victims for their possessions afterward.

Leader of the gang was killed in an armed stand-off with the police. Five other members of the gang left Russia and were put on the international wanted list.

Russian media called the perpetrators of murders in the Moscow Region and M-4 “Don” highway a “GTA gang” as a reference to the popular videogame.