"Interior Ministry bodies solved more than 1.3 million criminal cases in the first nine moths of 2008," Rashid Nurgaliyev said at a solemn meeting of the high-ranking officers to mark Russia's Police Day.
In all of 2007, the Interior Ministry stopped the illegal activities of more than 11,500 people involved in organized crime, while in the first nine months of last year some 1.38 million criminal cases were solved.
The minister also said that "in the nine months over 19,000 crimes connected with the illegal trade in arms were solved," adding that increases in the resolution of such cases was seen across the country.
Over 105,000 cases connected with drugs trafficking and 380,000 economic crimes were also solved by the ministry within this period, he added.
Nurgaliyev praised the work of the Interior Ministry this year, saying that "much has been done to preserve Russia's territorial integrity, strengthen peace and citizens' safety, and restore the constitutional order in the Russia's North Caucasus."
