Two St. Petersburg detectives suspected of selling counterfeit bills
MOSCOW. Nov 22 (Interfax) - Two detectives of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad region police department are suspected of selling counterfeit money, the Russian Investigative Committee told Interfax on Thursday.
"Detectives of the St. Petersburg Kurortny district have sold counterfeit banknotes for more than 1.5 million rubles since the beginning of 2012," it said.
Detectives Boris Sabirov and Vasily Martynov and their suspected accomplice, Dagestani native Rinat Aibedulov were taken into custody, the committee said.
Martynov sold a 5,000-ruble counterfeit bill for half that price to a local resident engaged in a police operation on October 23.
Some 2.445 million rubles in counterfeit bills were confiscated in the search of the suspects' homes.
A court may order their arrest.
In all, 76 criminal cases were opened against St. Petersburg policemen in January-September 2012.
"They were charged with abuse of power, bribes, embezzlement and other crimes," the committee said.
The press service of the St. Petersburg and Leningrad region police department reported that department chief Sergei Umnov had decided to dismiss both detectives from the police ranks for discrediting themselves.
"Their superiors will face disciplinary charges," the press service reported.
