"The general was detained on Tuesday at Domodedovo airport," a law enforcement source said.
He also said that formal charges against General Alexander Bulbov, head of technological support at the federal drug control agency, would be brought shortly, and more arrests could follow. Media reports said Wednesday the general could face charges of illegal phone tapping.
Local media also said that Bulbov's bodyguards had clashed with officers from the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Prosecutor General's Office as they attempted to detain him. The media said the general's apartment was searched as he was being arrested.
There have been suggestions that Bulbov's detention is FSB retaliation for last spring's arrest of five senior officials from the main domestic security body. The officials were arrested as part of a probe into the large-scale smuggling of furniture sold via Russia's largest furniture retailers, Tri Kita and Grand, and of low-quality goods from China. The furniture was reportedly stored in the agency's warehouses.
Bulbov's department joined the investigation on orders from Vladimir Putin over a year ago, when the president demanded technological assistance in the Tri Kita case.
