MOSCOW. Aug 8 (Interfax) - Several high-ranking officials of Moscow's customs service are suspected of forging reports claiming confiscation of smuggled items, the Russian Investigative Committee said in a press release seen by Interfax on Thursday.
"A criminal investigation has been opened against the first deputy director and the deputy director of the Federal Customs Service's Moscow division, Col. Alexei Pavlov and Lt. Col. Igor Sirotkin, as well as against head of the Moscow customs service's department Alexei Mitrokhin. They are suspected of abuse of power," the committee said.
Pavlov, Sirotkin and Mitrokhin "committed a criminal conspiracy, seeking to create an illusion of some positive results of their work to uncover instances of smuggling," the committee said.
"They devised a plan to arrange an international delivery of alleged contraband from a non-existent sender in Moscow to a non-existent recipient in the city of Tallinn that officials of the Moscow customs department's international postal service were supposed to detect," it said.
Acting in accordance with their plan, Sirotkin "purchased these items, packed them in two boxes together with Mitrokhin, took them to one of the Russian Post offices and arranged their delivery," the committee said.
"On June 17, during an X-ray examination of these items at the international postal service of the Moscow customs department, a customs officer ordered an additional check, as a result of which the alleged contraband was found," it said.
Shortly thereafter, Pavlov issued instructions to pay bonuses of more than 182,000 rubles to seven customs officers, including 26,400 rubles to Mitrokhin personally.