It may be a bit early to call it a trend, but for the second time in a week Moscow cops have arrested a member of the secretive brotherhood of "vory-v-zakone," or "thieves-in-law," for the decidedly low-yield crime of shoplifting.
 
As in the case of vor Teimuraz "Brazen" Dzhalagoniya, thief-in-law Igor Glaznyev, known in the criminal underworld by the nickname "Vova Pitersky," was arrested trying to lift a bottle of high-end booze from a local supermarket, a law enforcement source told Interfax.
 
Police investigators had been tracking Glazyev's movements when the Kaliningrad native popped into the Sedmoi Kontinent supermarket on Smolenskaya Ploshchad — next to the Old Arbat and the Foreign Ministry — and walked out with a bag of groceries, including a bottle of "elite" whiskey, bypassing the checkout counter, Interfax reported.
 
You will recall that Dzhalagoniya  was arrested on suspicion of stealing an "elite," 5,000-ruble bottle of wine from a Perekryostok grocery store in southwest Moscow.
 
The bottle of whiskey Glazyev purportedly tried to steal was also worth 5,000 rubles, Interfax said. The total bag of groceries was worth 15,000 rubles.
 
So what the heck is the deal with thieves-in-law and shoplifting booze these days?
 
Alexander Zheglov, the fine crime hack over at Kommersant, reported an intriguing theory from a police source specializing in the activities of thieves-in-law.
 
It's highly likely that both "Vova Pitersky" and "Brazen" intentionally got caught shoplifting in order to land in jail because it was their turn to enforce the unwritten legal code of thieves-in-law in their respective detention facilities, the source told Kommersant.
 
Vova Pitersky may have some nervous cellmates. While he was in detention at Moscow's notorious Matrosskaya Tishina prison in 1998, a Kurgan crime boss named Oleg Nelyubin had his head bashed in, and police believed Vova organized the murder, according to PrimeCrime.ru. Another prisoner serving time for murder took credit for the slaying, however.
 
Anyway, Moscow supermarket managers out there may want to keep an eye out for shady lookin' dudes with sweet tats eyeing pricey goods in the liquor section.