Sat, Sep 18, 2004
Russia Says It Played A Part In Double Jet Downing
We've all read the stories about corruption in Russian
officialdom, where 500 rubles will buy you a seat on a jetliner --
even if you're a terrorist.
That's how Russian prosecutors say at least one of two suicide
bombers got on board a pair of Tupelov passenger aircraft that
exploded almost simultaneously August 24th.
"We have checked how the anti-corruption law is enforced in
regional government bodies. The picture is assuming a dangerous
shape. The inspection uncovered 22,000 such violations, including
bribery, in half a year alone," Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov
told the Russian news agency Interfax.
To hear Ustinov tell it, a go-between paid an employee of Sibir
Airlines a whopping $34 to get the terror suspect on board a Tu-154
that was one of two jetliners bombed out of the sky. Armen
Arutyunov is suspected of helping both female terrorists get
last-minute tickets aboard the doomed flights. The women he's
accused of helping -- Amanta Nagayeva and Satsita Dzhebirkhanova --
were roommates in the capitol of Chechnya, long a bone of
contention between Moscow and Chechen separatists.
And even for all that, Ustinov Thursday said the bombers had
almost been caught. "Police officers spotted them, confiscated
their passports and handed them over to a police captain
responsible for anti- terrorism operations to examine their
belongings and check these people for their potential role in
terrorist attacks," he said. "The captain let them go without any
check, and they started to try to obtain tickets in the same
buildings."
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