Ex-KGB Man Accused of Arms Deals

The Federal Counterintelligence Service detained one of its former officers and charged him with the smuggling of weapons and racketeering, a spokesman for the service said Thursday.Vladimir Tomarovsky said secret agents of the ex-KGB detained the man, whom they declined to identify, Wednesday, two months after he resigned from the service and began working for a commercial company in Moscow."He is charged with the smuggling of weapons from abroad, which he was selling to mafia gangs in Russia, and extortion against several businessmen with the help of home-made explosive devices," Tomarovsky said.Tomarovsky said secret agents had confiscated from the former officer 31 grenades, a grenade-launcher, six explosive devices, a Colt revolver and several gas-pistols."The detained former agent worked in the anti-terrorist department of the service and, probably, during his service, he established connections with some mafia gangs," Tomarovsky said."But he started to do his illegal business after he resigned from the service."The newspaper Kommersant Daily reported that Sergei Stepashin, director of the service, issued a "secret" order last month to find out where all former agents were working. However,Tomarovsky said that he knew nothing about the order in question.Tomarovsky said the arrest had been carried out by the internal security department of the service which was established two years ago. "There are two main tasks of this department: to keep an eye on the ethics of our employees to prevent them from violating the service's instructions and the country's laws, and to provide for our employees' security," Tomarovsky said.Izvestia reported that the department was one of the most secret parts of the service and only high-ranking officials knew the identity of agents in the department. Sergei Bogdanov, another spokesman, said there had been several cases where former and present agents "betrayed" the service by dealing with mafia gangs."Unfortunately, the illegal trade of weapons is not the only illegal business that our people are involved in," Bogdanov said. He added that the most widespread violation involved cooperation with commercial companies dealing in illegal activities.