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10 Colombians detained in Moscow airport on suspicion of stealing 43 million roubles worth of jewelry

Jewelry items and one million rubles in cash were stolen from a Moscow-based jewelry company near St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport on February 5

ST. PETERSBURG, February 14 (Itar-Tass) —— Ten members of an international criminal gang have been detained in Moscow’s Domodedovo airport on suspicion of being involved in the theft of jewelry from participants on the JUNWEX 2012 jewelry exhibition that was held in early February in St. Petersburg, a spokesman for the Northwestern federal district transport police department told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

“The detainees are citizens of Colombia. They arrived in the Domodedovo airport to fly to their home country. Some of the stolen jewelry was packed in their luggage; some of the items were on them. In order not to attract attention they put the bulk of the jewelry on a woman, who accompanied them. Police are currently probing, whether they might have been involved in other similar crimes,” the spokesman said.

According to earlier reports, jewelry items to the total sum of 40 million rubles and one million rubles in cash were stolen from a Moscow-based jewelry company near St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport on February 5. On the same day, police reported that unidentified persons stole a luggage with 617 gold and silver items worth more than two million rubles from the director of an Irkutsk-based jewelry company at St. Petersburg’s Moskovsky railway terminal.

A criminal case has been opened on charges of theft. An investigation is underway.

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