In the Urals, a Russian Railways driver sold fuel drained from a diesel locomotive (PHOTO)

      In the Chelyabinsk region, transport police caught a group of workers from the South Ural Railway for stealing diesel fuel from locomotives, reports the EAN agency.

      The suspects in the criminal case became four, including two employees of the South Ural Railway - a driver and his assistant.

      In total, the group siphoned off from 3 to 6 tons of diesel, which they then sold in Zlatoust to truck drivers and owners of agricultural machinery.

      "The damage to the railway organization from the last theft, after which the accomplices were detained, exceeded 150,000 rubles," the message from the South Ural Transport Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia states.

      To catch the thieves red-handed, law enforcement arrived on May 19 at kilometer 1956 of the Zlatoust - Urzhumka section. There were a Lexus and a Gazelle parked there.

      In the back of the latter were three tanks, each containing a thousand liters of diesel. The railway workers were siphoning fuel into them using a motor pump and hoses.

      "Noticing the approaching law enforcement, the 26-year-old driver of the truck tried to leave the scene, ignoring the law enforcement's demand to stop, but after a kilometer and a half of pursuit, he eventually stopped the vehicle," the press service of the Transport Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Ural Federal District reports. "The 35-year-old citizen behind the wheel of the foreign car managed to escape at that moment, but his identity was quickly established, and he was detained at his place of residence a few days later."

      The other two detainees were a 41-year-old locomotive driver from whom the fuel was siphoned and a 41-year-old assistant driver.

      The actions of the detainees were classified under paragraph "a" of part 2 of article 158 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Theft committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy).

      They were not placed in custody. The court chose a measure of restraint for them in the form of an obligation to appear.

      The special operation was conducted by officers of the criminal investigation department of the linear police department at the Zlatoust station in cooperation with colleagues from the regional FSB and with the support of the OMON "Taganay" fighters of the National Guard of Russia in the Chelyabinsk region.