Chechen mafia is one of the largest mafia groups.
It is said to be highly organized crime group operating in Russia.
It is also known as the Obshina.
There have been many controversies about its existence and its influence.
Chechen crime group is believed to have come into existence in 1974 when Chechen student Khozh-Ahmed Noukhaev of Moscow State University laid the foundation of an underground movement.
This movement later on became the Obshina - the Chechen Mafia.
Under the leadership of Noukhaev and Nikolay Suleimanov, Chechen Mafia became a well-organized criminal community in 1987.
It forced the other criminal groups, the Balashikha, the Solntsevo, and the Lyubertsy, out of Russia and dominated the Russian mafia world.
It has its activities extended out from Vienna to Vladivostok.
This mafia group is involved in many criminal activities like money laundering, drugs smuggling, automobile theft, illegal sale of plutonium and illegal human trafficking of Chinese immigrants to Japan.
The Chechen mafia used to support the fighters in the Chechen Wars by providing them arms and finances.
This activity has caused confusion about the objectives of the Chechen Mafia that whether they want to gain profit from their illegal activities or want to fight for an independent state.
During the Chechen wars, lots of people of Chechen ethnicity migrated from Russia to Europe for refuge; many were separatists or former criminals.
They started their illegal activities in Europe and gained power almost everywhere except in Italy as the Sicilian mafia was already very strong there.