20:00, 14 March 2013

Hostages at Volga-Caspian College were captured by Astrakhan resident

Law enforcement bodies have identified the man who captured hostages in the building of the Volga-Caspian Fishery College.

A man, armed with a pistol, took students and a teacher as hostages, four persons in total. The police conducted a special operation and released the hostages; nobody was hurt.

The suspect is a certain Kuptsov, a resident of Astrakhan, born in 1987; his girlfriend, a student of the college, was also detained, said Grigory Kulik, the head of the Department for the Astrakhan Region of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA).

According to his story, the suspect had a fake bomb and a fake pistol on him during the detention.

As reported by the official website of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF), one of his demands, after he took hostages, was an off-road vehicle and money. He also demanded a pizza and coca-cola, and later promised to move additional claims.

If Kuptsov's guilt is proved, he can spend up to 15 years in prison. At the moment, the suspect is detained. The issue of his arrest is being considered, the "Interfax" reports.