Car theft is the third most profitable illegal business in Russia after drug trafficking and trade in weapons, a top Interior Ministry official said Thursday.


Dmitry Tynkov, head of the department that investigates car thefts, said there were several "professional" crime groups involved in car thefts in Russia, chiefly in Moscow and St. Petersburg.


"The price of a stolen brand new Zhiguli car is 10 million rubles (about $5,000) on the black market and the state price is more than 13 million rubles," Tynkov said in an interview. "The profit in car thefts follows only that for drug trafficking and illegal trade of weapons."


Tynkov said police last month detained a "very dangerous" group of seven criminals involved in car thefts headed by a man identified as A.A. Sokhin. They were killing drivers of KAMAZ trucks in the Moscow region and selling the trucks in Belarus, he said.


"All in all, they killed 20 people," he said. "During the detention of the group we confiscated 15 trucks."


An unidentified car thief told Komsomolskaya Pravda that he especially recommended against buying three models of Zhigulis -- VAZ 21,099, 2109 and 2108 cars -- especially if they are metallic dark green or black.


"You can write these cars off as stolen before they are even sold," the self-confessed criminal said.


Police solved 20 percent of car thefts last year.