"Drawbacks are evident in the gun room guard. Police have their arsenals in double protection. Things are different in other agencies, so the bandits have chosen a weak spot," he said at a press conference in Kislovodsk, a North Caucasian spa.
Kabardino-Balkaria, one of Russia's North Caucasian autonomies, presently has four independent law enforcement agencies, "each engaged in detection but it isn't clear to this day who is truly responsible," remarked Mr. Kozak.
The raid was evidently plotted thoroughly, and well beforehand, he added.
President Vladimir Putin's representative came down on law enforcement bodies for "vague ideas of responsibility and a failure to divide duties between themselves".
Four officers were killed as a result of a bandit raid of the Drug Control office in Nalchik, republican capital, on December 14. The bandits took off 79 submachine guns and 182 pistols.
Criminal proceedings were launched on murder and arms theft.
