IIssues of countering the illegal trafficking of amber, jade and other semiprecious stones

Introduction. Unauthorised extraction of amber in the Kaliningrad region is a fairly common and widespread phenomenon, the fight against that is one of the economic tasks at the federal level. The article identifies some features of persons who have committed crimes under Articles 191 and 255 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Methodological recommendations are proposed using situational modeling in the investigation of crimes related to the illicit trafficking of amber, jade or other semiprecious stones in a formalised structured table. Methods. The universal method of cognition, dialectics was used in the work. In addition the method of system analysis, the comparative legal method, the statistical method and the method of document research in the study of law enforcement practice were also used in the research process. Results. Based on the analysed judicial practice, personality portraits of criminals involved in illegal amber mining and gold trafficking were formed, which made it possible to trace the choice of courts in terms of sentencing. It has been established that the problem of the irreplaceability of environmental damage from crimes remains open due to the impossibility of imposing penalties due to the low welfare of the offender. In addition a standard information model was built that includes three main information blocks: “pre-criminal situation”, “actual criminal situation” and “post-criminal situation”, since the study of various stages of illicit trafficking and extraction of amber, jade or other semiprecious resources should be approached taking into account a situational approach that allows identifying missing information in the investigation of crimes.