NOVOSIBIRSK, April 20 (AVN) - The number of criminal cases launched against servicemen of the Siberian military district grew over 20 percent in the first three months in 2001 in comparison with the same period of 2000, a spokesman for the district military prosecutor's office told the Military News Agency on Friday.
Deterioration of the criminal situation in the district's troops is caused by general criminalisation of Western Siberia, the spokesman said. Particularly, the growing number of thefts of military equipment containing ferrous metals is the result of the demand for gold, silver, platinum and palladium among criminals.
The efficiency of criminal investigation has increased four percent in the district, investigators of the districts military prosecutor's offices said at a training session in Novosibirsk that on Friday. The figure is calculated by means of comparing the number of cases submitted to courts and the total number of cases completed by the investigation.
Nevertheless, this growth is not enough for combating crimes successfully, investigators stressed.
Military prosecutor's offices compensated RUR1m (USD34,584) of damages caused to the country while the compensation amounted at RUR896,000 (USD30,987) in the first quarter of 2000, Colonel Mikhail Koshkin, deputy prosecutor of the district, said. However the true amount of damages inflicted by criminals is much higher, Koshkin added.