Police have detained a refugee from Afghanistan for allegedly stealing an ATM machine in western Moscow, a news report said Thursday.
"On Wednesday morning, a representative of a commercial bank appealed to police with a complaint about the theft of a bank machine on Bolshaya Filyovskaya Ulitsa," the Interfax news agency cited the police press service as saying.
There were about 3 million rubles ($83,000) inside the machine at the time it was stolen, the report said. Soon after the complaint was made, police apprehended the suspect — a 28-year-old refugee from Afghanistan seeking asylum in Russia — and the bank machine was found in the backseat of the car he was driving, according to Interfax.
A criminal case has been opened on the charge of theft, which carries a maximum punishment of two years in prison.
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