MOSCOW, April 2 (RIA Novosti) – An army officer who deserted his unit after committing a series of robberies 14 years ago has been apprehended and is now in custody, the Investigative Committee said on Tuesday.
Senior Lt. Alexei Yakunchikhin has been charged with carrying out a series of assaults and robberies as part of a crime gang in Russia’s Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad between September and November 1998.
In November 1999, fearing detention, he deserted his army unit and was only apprehended in the Russian republic of Chuvashia in late March 2013, the committee said in a statement.
The Kazan Garrison Military Court in Russia’s republic of Tatarstan has ordered Yakunchikhin to remain in custody pending trial.
