True crime · 13.12.1995
A mobile phone stops a bullet on Tartu Road
Businessman Meelis Lao has been described as one of the leaders of Estonian organised crime. On 13 December 1995 he was shot in the chest with a Kalashnikov outside the Flexer sports club on Tartu Road in Tallinn. A mobile phone in his breast pocket took the bullet and saved his life. On 4 March 1997 a bomb went off at the same spot and badly injured him. That year a Helsinki court gave him a suspended sentence for smuggling 18,000 litres of spirits into Finland. Lao later ran fuel transit and fruit wholesale businesses. The sources do not name the attackers. The pin marks Tartu Road.
Open it on the map See the spot on the old maps and as it is today
Eesti keeles
Ärimeest Meelis Laod on peetud üheks Eesti allilma juhiks. 13. detsembril 1995 tulistati teda Tallinnas Tartu maanteel spordiklubi Flexer ees Kalašnikovist rindu. Rinnataskus olnud mobiiltelefon võttis kuuli vastu ja päästis ta elu. 4. märtsil 1997 plahvatas samas kohas pomm, mis vigastas teda raskelt. Samal aastal mõistis Helsingi kohus talle tingimisi karistuse 18 000 liitri piirituse Soome smugeldamise eest. Hiljem tegeles Lao kütusetransiidi ja puuvilja hulgimüügiga. Rünnakute toimepanijaid allikad ei nimeta. Kaart näitab Tartu maanteed.
Source: English Wikipedia: Meelis Lao ↗