MOSCOW, October 18 (RIA Novosti) - The top police official in the Russian republic of Buryatia in east Siberia has been detained in a smuggling case. The Russian Interior Ministry confirmed the detention but provided no further details.

According to the Vesti TV channel, Buryatia's interior minister Viktor Syusyura was arrested on Saturday evening in the republic's capital Ulad Ude as part of the investigation into a smuggling case, and his office and apartment were searched.

Syusyura was brought to Moscow's Lefortovo pre-trial detention center under heavy guard on Sunday morning, but the Federal Penitentiary Service and Buryatia's interior ministry said they knew nothing about that.

Vesti also said the investigation could be connected with Syusyura's previous post, when in 2001-2006 he headed a southern Russian transport police department and was responsible for security at ports, railroad stations, bridges and tunnels in the Krasnodar Territory.

According to official reports, under Syusyura, transport police carried out a number of operations to seize smuggled cargos, but his opponents accused him of covering up smugglers.

Andrei Shurupov, acting head of the Buryat ministry's tax crimes department, was also reported to have been arrested.