Police prevent theft of engines from defense industry plant outside St. Pete
ST. PETERSBURG. Nov 23 (Interfax) - St. Petersburg police have prevented the theft of naval equipment from a defense industry plant in Kronstadt, the Interior Ministry department for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region reported on Friday.
Police operatives uncovered a Mercedes car with a trailer, in which two engines worth presumably $250,000 were hidden. The suspected organizers of the crime were also detained on the plant's territory.
The suspects planned to sell the engines to a 56-year-old businessman born in Leningrad and a 53-year-old Murmansk resident, who would resell them with fake documents for cash to another plant, the police department said.
A criminal case has been opened under Criminal Code Article 158 Part 4 (large-scale theft committed by an organized group). The suspects could have been responsible for other similar crimes, it said.
