MOSCOW, January 21 (RIA Novosti) - A former police officer was sentenced to six years in a high-security prison for running an illegal arms trade operation in the Leningrad Region, the Investigative Committee said on Monday.

Oleg Budin, who served with the Interior Ministry’s Novgorod branch, was part of an organized crime group engaged in the illegal trade in firearms and ammunition.

He was found guilty of faking licenses, certificates and other documents allowing arms to be imported into Russia.

Other members of the organized crime group bought firearms abroad and brought them into Russia using the documentation Budin provided. The weapons were then sold in St. Petersburg and Veliky Novgorod.

The group illegally imported and sold over 100 firearms.

Budin was also fined 200,000 rubles (about $7,000).

The investigation into the roles played by other members of the organized crime group is nearing completion, the committee said.