ASTRAKHAN. Aug 15 (Interfax) - Nine persons have been taken into custody in Astrakhan on suspicion of aiding and abetting assailants of police and National Guard officers, Andrei Hegai, assistant to the head of the Russian Investigative Committee's department in the Astrakhan region, told Interfax on Tuesday.
Criminal cases have been opened on counts of an attempt on the life of law enforcement officers, illegal carrying of weapons and ammunition, and weapons theft, he said.
"Nine suspects, including the wife of a killed assailant, have been detained in the course of a criminal inquiry conducted by the investigative department in collaboration with the Astrakhan regional departments of the Federal Security Service and the Interior Ministry. They are charged with aiding, abetting and making an attempt on the life of law enforcement officers," Hegai said.
The court placed the nine suspects under arrest.
The investigators said the defendants were aware of the pending crimes and aided the assailants. They procured and supplied firearms, ammunition and bladed weapons, and provided the assailants with an alibi, Hegai said.
In addition, the detainees helped the assailants rapidly reach the crime scene and prepared their escape routes, provided them with lodging and venues for regular meetings where the attacks were planned, and supplied food, money and 'other daily essentials', Hegai said.
According to the investigative department, the defendants in a Gazelle vehicle provoked an accident with a Nissan March near the Magistral store on Avtozapravochnaya Street in the Leninsky District of Astrakhan early in the morning of April 4. They urged the driver of the Nissan March to call the police to register the road accident.
Once two traffic police officers arrived, the defendants used a pistol, which was refashioned from a gas pistol into a live weapon, to fire several shots. The policemen died instantly; the defendants seized their service-issue guns and escaped.
The four assailants of traffic police officers were rapidly identified and put on the wanted list.
According to the investigative department, Russian National Guard officers tried to stop a Renault Logan car for inspection at the intersection of Aksakova and Energeticheskaya Streets in Astrakhan early in the morning of April 6. The Renault Logan passengers opened fire and injured three officers. One of the assailants, who had been identified as a fugitive, was killed in the shootout. The defendants abandoned their vehicle and jumped over a concrete fence on Pervaya Zheleznodorozhnaya Street in an industrial area. The guards urged them to surrender, but the assailants kept on firing. In the end, three assailants were shot and killed.
The details of the incident are being established, as is the possible involvement of the detainees in other crimes.
Murad Velikhanov, the lawyer for one of the detainees, said earlier that none of the detainees had pleaded guilty in plotting the attack.