You're reading: Train steward jailed for smuggling military airplane parts

Serhei Kovryha, a Ukrainian citizen, has been found by the Volodarsky District Court in Bryansk guilty of the cross-border smuggling of equipment used in the production of military hardware, the regional prosecutors said in a press release on Thursday.

"It was found that on April 1, 2010 the steward from the Moscow-Odesa train conspired with other unidentified individuals to smuggle across the Russian border to Ukraine 32 brake discs for a brake wheel of the front chassis of Mikoyan MiG-27 and MiG-29 military aircraft," the statement said.

On the same day, he hid the spare parts in a luggage compartment of his train car, however, they were found and seized by law enforcement officers at the Volodarsky customs post at the Bryansk train station.

The court jailed Kovryha for six months at a medium-security prison.

The Suzemsky District Curt in the Bryansk region earlier sentenced Yevheny Yukhimuk, Ukrainian citizen, a mechanic on the Moscow-Kovel train, to eight months at a medium-security prison for agreeing to smuggle spare parts for the MiG-29 aircraft engine on November 26, 2009.