Police in western Siberia detained a woman on Thursday who allegedly took expensive mink coats and jewelry from people, promising to “remove the curse” from them, police said.
The Ukrainian woman arrived in the city of Tomsk and advertised herself as a fortune-teller, faith healer and curse remover, the police press service said.
“Ivanko, as she called herself, told people their future and was interested in any valuable things they had on them,” the press service said. “Then she would announce that exactly these belongings carried a curse and took them away for ‘curse removal.’”
Police said after a while the suspect left for Moscow and was detained by police upon arrival with all the stolen belongings and then sent back to Tomsk. She is now in pre-trial detention.
The confiscated objects included mink coats, cashmere coats, high boots, a laptop, mobile phones, and several pieces of gold jewelry.
