Resident of Chechnya brings his lost brother's sub-machine gun to militia

A resident of the Shelkovskoi District of Chechnya (in the north of the republic) has voluntarily given out a Kalashnikov that he had hid for more than ten years to law enforcers. The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent learnt about it from a local MIA employee.

The source said: "A local resident of 38 addressed the Shelkovskoi ROVD (District Militia Division) with an intention to sell a sub-machine gun to the militia. He said that in November 1999 he buried in a suburb of Shelkovskaya village the Kalashnikov, which belonged to his brother, a member of IAFs (illegal armed formations) who perished in that very month in a combat clash with federal soldiers."

Operative agents went where he indicated and really found a Kalashnikov sub-machine gun dug in the ground. The weapon was confiscated and sent to examination.

In 2004, the government of the Chechen Republic passed a special statement, according to which the people who voluntarily give out firearms and ammunition, are not only exempted from criminal liability but also receive monetary compensation.

The sum of remuneration depends on the weapon model and weight of handed over explosives and ammunition. If we estimate these sums in money, then, for example, a resident of Chechnya gets 8000 roubles (270 US dollars, - comment of the editor) for a Kalashnikov or an RPK machine gun. An anti-tank grenade launcher, a sniper rifle and a pistol-machine gun "cost" 20,000 roubles. The most expensive - 30,000 roubles - are man-portable air defence missile complexes (known as "PZRK"), intended to defeat aircrafts.