Four Russians Arrested in Connection with Major Bank Heist in Pavlodar

A court in Ivanovo, Russia, has placed four individuals under house arrest as part of an investigation into a major theft from a bank vault in Kazakhstan. The criminal case, initiated on November 11, 2024, by the central police department of Pavlodar, concerns the theft of jewelry and cash from a deposit box facility at a branch of Halyk Bank.

The total damage is estimated at nearly 400 million Russian rubles, equivalent to approximately 2.57 billion Kazakh tenge. The suspects, all Russian citizens, face charges of committing theft by an organized group on an especially large scale.

The crime occurred in the autumn of 2024 when perpetrators broke through a wall of the bank branch located on the ground floor of a five-story residential building in Pavlodar and made off with valuables worth over a billion tenge. Following the incident, five suspects were detained.

In February 2025, authorities reported that a Kazakh court had sanctioned the arrest of those detained. A joint investigative task force was established to handle the case. By May 2025, the criminal case was transferred to Russian investigative bodies through supervisory authorities in accordance with international procedure. The victims are around 40 Kazakh nationals.

Kazakh law enforcement continues to assist their Russian counterparts. Recently, officers from the Pavlodar Regional Police Department conducted a business trip to Georgia and Armenia, where accomplices to the crime are believed to be located. These states provided comprehensive legal assistance, and the gathered materials will be forwarded to Russian prosecutors and investigators.

Bolat Nurseitov, First Deputy Head of the Pavlodar Regional Police Department, stated on January 21, 2026, that while it is difficult to specify the exact stage of the investigation, progress is being made and results are expected soon. Many victims have reportedly chosen not to publicly disclose the exact sums of their losses.