"Officers of the MIA Administration for the Kamchatka Territory, together with colleagues from the FSB Department for the Kamchatka Territory and the Kamchatka MIA Linear Division on Transport identified the crimes associated with illegal keeping and transportation of gyrfalcons," - said the MIA official representative Elena Alekseeva.

On November 19, law enforcement officers detained a group of offenders attempting to export from the peninsula, by air-flight Petropavlovsk - Novosibirsk, eight birds listed in the Red Book. Investigators have established all the persons involved in the keeping, transportation and shipment of the illicit cargo.

Swaddled gyrfalcons were transported in two sports bags. The carrier covered the cages with birds that had got injections of sedatives with a layer of red fish.

Investigator of the Kamchatka MIA Linear Division on Transport decided to initiate a criminal investigation into the fact of illegal hunting and trafficking of especially valuable wild animals and aquatic biological resources referring to the species included in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and protected by international treaties of the Russian Federation.

Under the same article the inquirer of the MIA Administration for the Kamchatka Territory initiated a criminal case against members of a family from the village of Ust-Bolsheretsk. On the evening of November 20, law enforcement officers seized two merlins in a private house owned by a 53-year-old villager. According to the operational information available with the police his 29-year-old daughter and 23-year-old son were also involved in the illegal catching and keeping of birds listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation.

The criminal investigations continue. Investigator will investigate the role of each of the suspects in the illegal business.