The FSB said that Russian Interior Ministry officer Kuznetsov and Moscow Police Captain Vagan Kasyan were caught red-handed while trying to extort $1.55 million from Ultra Online Trading Technologies, a computer retailer, to lift an arrest from its warehouse.
According to the Vedomosti daily, Ultra itself was guilty of trading in confiscated and stolen computers and software.
Prosecutors have launched a criminal case under which the corrupt policemen could be sentenced to seven to 12 years in prison and a fine of up to 500,000 rubles ($19,600).
In an unrelated case, another policeman, Captain Vitaly Ragalev, was arrested in Nakhabino, a town west of Moscow, while extorting $250,000 for closing a criminal case against Expoholod in July 2005. The offender then offered over $2.5 million to fellow policemen for his release.
