STAVROPOL, July 25 (AVN) - A patrol of the Vladikavkaz border guard detachment found 160 Makarov pistol cartridges in a Niva jeep that headed from Georgia to Russia through the Verkhny Lars checkpoint at 18.30 Moscow time (1430 GMT) on Tuesday, a spokesman for the North Caucasus regional border guard department said.
The cartridges were hidden in a plastic bag with rice, the spokesman told the Military News Agency. The car's driver Mikhailrkhy Alkhaidze and his three Georgian passengers were detained.
Border guards of the Khunzakh detachment detained two men without documents at 14.55 Moscow time (0855 GMT). The main claimed to be brothers Ali and Shamil Khochbirov and said they had arrived from Moscow to visit their relative. Investigation is underway.
In spite of the moratorium on getting sturgeons poachers do not scale down their activities. Border guards detain and confiscate a minor part of their catch. For example, servicemen confiscated seven boats, 800 metres of nets and almost 200kg of fresh sturgeons on Tuesday.
In general the situation in the department's area of responsibility remains quite stable, the spokesman said. No attacks on Chechen and adjacent parts of the border were registered on Tuesday.