MOSCOW, November 7. /TASS/. A Moscow transport police officer tried to eat 5,000-ruble and 1,000-ruble bank notes while being detained on suspicion of bribery, a police source has told TASS.

"While being detained for a petty bribe at the Moskva-Savelovskaya station, a police major, who is a lead criminal investigator of the transport police office at the Tushino railway station, attempted to eat bank notes totaling 10,000 rubles [about $157]. He tried to eat them together with sunflower seeds from a drawer of his office desk," the source said.

According to him, the officer managed to eat a 5,000-ruble and 1,000-ruble bank notes almost completely, Four other 1,000 bank notes remained almost intact.

A spokesperson for the Moscow inter-regional transport investigation department of the Russian Investigative Committee, Yelena Markovskaya, said the officer is suspected of receiving a bribe of 10,000 rubles for issuing an order to dismiss a criminal complaint. In her words, the suspect "tried to destroy the money that he had unlawfully received," but his attempt failed.

A criminal case of receiving a bribe below 10,000 rubles was launched against the officer, but no charges have so far been filed against him.

An internal audit was launched in connection with the case.