Cops Tied to Arbat Robbery

Aug. 29, 2010

Four Moscow policemen were arrested Saturday with a businessman in the trunk of their car, RIA-Novosti reported.

The officers are accused of kidnapping the businessman in Moscow’s western Krylatskoye district to force him to pay his debts to unspecified lenders, it said. But his wife witnessed the abduction and alerted the police, who detained the suspects and freed the businessman.

Police are investigating whether the policemen might be linked to a number of other felonies, including the theft of 10 million rubles ($324,000) from a businessman who had just withdrawn the cash from a bank on Arbat last Monday. The attackers wore riot police uniforms and masks.

The four detained officers face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of kidnapping and other charges.

(MT)

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