Criminals steal $1 million from bank collectors in Moscow's center

One man has been killed in the center of Moscow today, when a group of criminals attacked bank collectors and stole one million dollars. Sources from law-enforcement authorities told Interfax that the attack happened at 9:20 a.m. today in one of side streets in the central area of Moscow.

A group of masked criminals opened automatic fire from the black Volga vehicle at security guards of Vneshprombank, Alexander Nekrasov, born in 1971, Artur Shakhmuratov, born in 1964 and the driver of the collection vehicle, Alexander Savkin, born in 1963. Alexander Nekrasov was killed in the attack, whereas the other security guard, Artur Shakhmuratov, was hospitalized with a leg wound. The driver of the collection vehicle did not suffer.

The assaulters stole a bag of money, which contained about one million dollars, and escaped. One of the security guards reportedly wounded one of the assaulter. Investigators said that the crime had been meticulously planned in advance: the criminals were aware of the time and place of money collection, Itar Tass reported.

A surveillance camera, which was fixed above the front door of the bank, could film the scene of the armed assault. Specialists found over ten bullet cases on the crime scene; bullets also hit the rear window of the VAZ-21099 vehicle, which was parked some 100 meters far from the bank building.