Convicted drug dealer Vladimir Tolmachev has been arrested in Prokopyevsk, Russia, after hiding from police in his mother's apartment for eight years.
According to Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service, the 36-year-old fugitive hid inside a sofa to avoid detection by law enforcement officers after fleeing his trial in 2018.
His mother, Olga Tolmacheva, publicly dismissed reports of her son living inside furniture as nonsense. Speaking to Russian news outlet RT, she questioned how anyone could reside inside a sofa for eight years, stating that he simply lived in the apartment like a normal occupant.
Tolmacheva said her son ate regular meals, spent his time sitting at a computer playing games, and avoided contact with outsiders, adding that visitors rarely came to her residence in any case.
Explaining the background to his legal troubles, Tolmacheva said that shortly before his criminal prosecution began, her son had fallen in with a bad group of acquaintances. She said the group gave him illegal substances to try, which subsequently led to his involvement in the drug trade.
Years spent hiding indoors
Tolmachev was initially detained by authorities in 2018 on charges of drug distribution, but he managed to escape while his court case was underway. Following his escape, a court convicted him in absentia and sentenced him to nine years in prison, prompting officials to place him on a federal wanted list.
Throughout his eight years on the run, Tolmachev remained confined to his mother's home, never stepping foot outside even once. He possessed no outdoor clothing or coats, and spent his days playing computer games while earning between 30,000 and 40,000 rubles a month from inside the flat.
Prokopyevsk is a major city in Kemerovo Oblast, situated in the Kuzbass region of southwestern Siberia. The Federal Penitentiary Service, known as FSIN, is the state executive agency responsible for overseeing Russia's penal system and executing criminal sentences, including the capture of wanted fugitives.
Capture and transfer to prison
Law enforcement officers from the Federal Penitentiary Service eventually discovered Tolmachev's whereabouts by deploying modern search and investigative methods, leading to his arrest inside the residence.
Following his arrest, authorities confirmed that Tolmachev will be escorted in the near future to a strict-regime penal colony, a high-security prison facility, to begin serving his nine-year sentence.
