MOSCOW, June 23 (RAPSI) – A criminal case against the so-called “GTA gang” in Russia has been transferred to court, RIA Novosti reported on Friday.

Alleged members of the gang are charged with banditry, murder, robbery, unlawful production and possession of weapons.

According to investigators, in March 2012 Ibaydullo Suyhanov created 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.

The criminal case has been transferred to the Moscow Regional Court. Leader of the gang was killed during armed resistance against 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 of the same name.