GYUMRI, AUGUST 7, NOYAN TAPAN. As a result of operative measures taken by employees of the RA Police Main Department for Fight against Organized Crime (MDFOC) and the National Security Service (NSS), chief district inspector of the preventive unit of the police department of the city of Gyumri, Major Seyran Petrosian was exposed based on the fact of taking bribes. It was found out that S. Petrosian - through the following persons: section commander of the patrol service of the indicated police department Sargis Parsamian and policemen of the patrol company Hovhannes Grigorian and Grigor Hayrapetian - recurrently extorted bribes of large amounts from citizens selling goods and conducting an illegal sale and purchase of foreign currency in the central market of Gyumri. After making a search in the small house that served as an office for the above mentioned policemen in the market, the MDFOC and NSS employees found written records about various persons, as well as three copy-books, in which since 2007 the policemen have written data on goods sellers, with a "plus" or "minus" sign being put against their names by days, from which those who paid or not paid money can be seen. At the same time Seyran Petrosian took out 412 thousand drams from his pocket and presented it to law enforcers. It came to light that Gevorg Hakobian, an expert of the Gyumri municipality's trade and service unit, was also extorting money from market sellers. According to a press release of the RA Police PR and Information Department, several Gyumri residents engaged in an illegal exchange of foreign currency in the market: Ashot Antonian, Norayr Sahakian, Rubik Khachatrian, Robert Poladian, Ara Grigorian, Vardan Yaghubian and Ashot Khurshudian were revealed. They presented to the law enforcers the money they had for conducting an exchange of currency: 3,967,000 drams, 3,807 USD, 1,995 euros and 183,050 rubles. Based on the prepared materials, a criminal case was opened by the NSS Investigation Department under Article 311 part 3 of the RA Criminal Code. Policemen Seyran Petrosian, Sargis Parsamian and Hovhannes Grigorian have been arrested.

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