Krasnodar Territory: militia colonel arrested as suspect of contraband

On Saturday, March 20, under petition of inquiry bodies of the Krasnodar Territory, Sergey Motin, head of Operative-Search Bureau (OSB) No. 11 of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of Russia, was taken into custody on suspicion of large-scale contraband.

According to the Investigatory Committee, the arrest was preceded by searches conducted by inspectors at the Department for Transports Legal Order of Russian MIA, where the detainee worked, "in the course of which evidences were obtained of Motin's participation in an organized criminal grouping."

The colonel was put behind bars within the criminal case dealing with contraband of goods across the customs of Sochi and Maikop airports in 2005-2006. As reported by the "Gazeta.Ru", earlier under the same case charges were presented to Victor Sosyura, Minister of Internal Affairs of the Republic Buryatia.

For today, inspectors have information on 82 contraband episodes.

According to the inquiry, "Militia Colonel Motin was in charge of ensuring safety of the criminals engaged in contraband. He received some 100,000 US dollars per month for that." The decision to arrest him was caused by his threats to witnesses and suspicion that he can escape from the investigation.

The colonel himself and his lawyers are sure that there were no grounds for his detention, as the "Life News" reports. "I didn't take part in contraband," - Sergey Motin said. "I'm not going to abscond; I don't know any witnesses on the criminal case; therefore, I couldn't threaten anybody."