ST. PETERSBURG, April 5. The Pskov City Court extended the arrest of the person involved in the transportation of explosives in icons across the Russian border until June 29, the joint press service of the regional courts reported.
“The Pskov City Court considered the petition of the FSB Investigation Department for the Pskov Region to extend the preventive measure in the form of detention in relation to a citizen who, according to the investigation authorities, was involved in the transportation of explosive substances in icons and church utensils. <…> The court granted petition, extending the preventive measure until June 29 inclusive,” the release says.
On Tuesday, the FSB announced that, together with customs officers, it had shut down a smuggling channel for the delivery of foreign-made explosives from Ukraine to Russia in transit through EU countries. It was found in a shipment of Orthodox icons and church utensils at a checkpoint in the Pskov region on the border with Latvia.
In the cargo traveling along the route Ukraine — Romania — Hungary — Slovakia — Poland — Lithuania — Latvia — Russia, they found, in particular, 27 homemade bombs camouflaged in icons and ready for use, 70 kilograms of industrially produced high-power plastic explosives, as well as 91 electric detonators. It was reported that a person “involved in the commission of a crime” had been detained.
As a source said the day before, a person involved in the case of transporting explosives was charged and arrested for two months. This information is confirmed by data from the judicial database of the Pskov Regional Court, where Dmitry Gratiy is listed as a suspect. From the decision of the appeal court of the regional court it follows that he has both Russian and foreign citizenship.
The document says that a criminal case was opened against another foreigner, whose name is not named, as well as unidentified persons. As the FSB reported, we are talking about the article “Illegal movement of explosives and explosive devices across the Russian border by a group of persons by prior conspiracy.”
On Friday, April 5, the court stopped proceedings against one of the defendants in the case, Khochbar Dzhamalov, about this evidence available from the materials available to the agency.