"Saboteurs" turned out to be robbers

In the village of Pashino near Novosibirsk, two local residents were detained during preparations for sabotage at the electrical substation of the Iskra military plant. They intended to cause an explosion to divert the attention of the police, and then quietly rob a cash-in-transit vehicle in which they would bring salaries to the company's employees.

Residents of the village were the first to notice the saboteurs. They reported that suspicious individuals wearing masks and holding grenade launchers were wandering around the defense plant. Police officers who arrived at the scene found two young men armed with seven grenade launchers. (In June of this year, 12 RPG-26 hand grenade launchers were stolen from a military unit located in Pashino.) One of the detainees admitted that it was he who committed the theft. It also turned out that the saboteurs had already used two grenade launchers during training. They are currently charged with theft, illegal storage and transportation of weapons. The police do not rule out that in the near future these people will be charged with preparing a terrorist act. The detainees admitted that they initially planned to commit sabotage at several sites of the Iskra plant, but later decided to blow up only the substation. One of the unlucky saboteurs worked as a loader at the plant and knew when and how collectors would deliver salaries to employees (about 5 million rubles).

Vasily POLEVANOV, Novosibirsk