Moscow, December 10: An alarm was sounded by the Kremlin after a high-profile robbery case was reported. Key equipments in the "Doomsday Plane" - which Russia has designated for use in wake of a nuclear attack - were found to be stolen. The country's top investigative bodies are coordinating to conduct a thorough probe into the case. Russia's Doomsday Plane Gets Looted by Thieves But What is It? Is it Related to End of The World Event? Know More.

As per the information released through the national media, equipments worth Rs 1 million rubles ($13,600) were found stolen from the Ilyushin Il-80 aircraft. The theft, as per the prima facie case, was carried out while the plane was stationed at the base in Taganrog, the city located 700 miles south of Moscow.

Taganrog is also home to the state-run Beriev Aircraft Company. Both - Beriev and the Russian Interior Ministry - has so far not released any other information apart from accepting that a high-level theft has been committed.

The probing agencies have so far questioned 12 persons as part of their preliminary investigation. Fingerprints, apparently of the robbers, have been recovered from the aircraft.

The investigators may focus on the officials who were privy to the aircraft's details and had access to the airfield where Ilyushin Il-80 plane was stationed.

Dmitry Peskov, spokesperson of President Vladimir Putin, called the robbery case a situation of "emergency". The government has vowed to enact measures that will prevent such a breach "from happening again in the future", he was reported as saying.

Notably, Ilyushin Il-80 plane is is one of the four flying command centres built to evacuate the President, along with other senior-most officials, in case of a nuclear explosion.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 10, 2020 04:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).