MOSCOW, October 12 (RIA Novosti) - A Moscow court sanctioned on Monday the arrest on smuggling charges of the vice president of Russian jewelry holding Altyn, along with the head of the company's factory in St. Petersburg, a court spokesperson said.
The court granted a request from investigators that Antonina Babosyuk and her husband Vladimir Fenkov, who were earlier detained, be held in custody, Anna Usacheva said.
Two other Altyn executives were arrested last Friday as part of a probe into jewelry smuggling, opened on October 5. Police have since raided the group's offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Omsk. Several of the chain's jewelry stores have been closed down.
The investigation, which has received substantial publicity in Russia, was launched after an incident on Russia's border with Kazakhstan in January, when a horse-drawn sled was detained carrying 50 kg of jewelry. The man driving the sled had tried to bypass the checkpoint.
Investigators said the jewelry sold via Altyn had been made abroad, then brought to former Soviet states, where Russian brand marks were put on them, and then smuggled into Russia for sale.
The Altyn executives have denied smuggling and claim the items seized on the Russian-Kazakh border were not illicit.
The group, which was established in 1990, has a network of jewelry stores in Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and the United Arab Emirates. In Russia, it runs stores in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Omsk.
Lawyers acting for Babosyuk and Fenkov said the arrests were "ungrounded" as the couple has children under the age 18 and hold prestigious state awards. The court rejected the lawyer's request to release Babosyuk on bail.
Lawyers said they would appeal the Altyn vice president's arrest, citing health reasons.
