Airline ticket scalpers at Russian airports use bribes to bypass security measures, and have been linked to recent terror attacks.
One such man is in detention in connection with two Aug 24 mid-air bombings believed committed by women who swapped tickets with him in Moscow, the St. Petersburg Times reported Monday.
Armen Arutyunyan is charged with helping two Chechen women board the Sibir TU-154 to Sochi and the Volga-Aviaexpress TU-134 to Volgograd. As with many ticket scalpers, Arutyunyan is a former airline employee who knows many airline and airport employees, as well as the airport's layout.
The newspaper said after the tickets were changed, both women went through the required security and baggage checks and received airport security stamps on their boarding passes.
A passenger can pay an airport staffer as little as $3 to be whisked past security checks or sent through staff-only corridors, an airline official said. For $3.50, a bus driver can be hired to take a passenger directly to a plane.
© Copyright 2004 by United Press International
