MOSCOW, April 24 (AVN) - The Russian Interior Ministry departments registered 20,039 crimes connected with illegal arms turnover in the first quarter of 2001, Lieutenant General Vyacheslav Trubnikov, head of the ministry's main criminal investigation department told reporters on Tuesday.
Criminal police investigated 25,965 crimes including cases not completed last year. The growth of such crimes in the first quarter of the year made 4.1 percent, said Trubnikov.
According to him, 96.2 percent of arms-related crimes are detected at the present. Investigation of 681 criminal cases connected with illegal arms turnover is still in progress. The most criminal regions are Moscow, Stavropol territory, Sverdlovsk and Kaliningrad regions.