Suspects accused of abducting a woman in central Moscow and shoving her into the trunk of her car have claimed their stunt was a prank aimed at testing the ?€?vigilance?€? of Muscovites, the state-run TASS news agency reported Sunday.
Police launched a citywide search earlier on Sunday after reports that unidentified masked suspects seized a woman on Myasnitskaya Ulitsa, put her into the trunk of her Bentley Continental car, and drove away.
Police located the car with three young men and a young woman inside, TASS reported, without specifying where in the car the woman was found. The Interfax news agency put the number at two men and a woman.
The suspects told police that their ?€?actions were a test of citizens' reaction to a crime in progress,?€? said a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry.
?€?The vehicle and the perpetrators were detained and the female owner of the car has been freed,?€? an unidentified law enforcement official was quoted as saying by Russian state-run media in the immediate aftermath of the raid.
A few hours later, Interior Ministry spokeswoman Irina Volk said the suspects had been charged with ?€?petty hooliganism,?€? a minor administrative offense under Russian law, TASS reported.