From Russia with love

The Bronze Horseman is an equestrian statue of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg, Russia - my city ," Magdalia narrated sipping from her coffee mug shifting gaze to the person sitting in front of her.She responded to the person after he pointed out that the Buddha statue of the Hussain Sagar is the largest monolithic rock statue in the world.

The statue is now one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg, in much the same way that the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of New York City.

The statue's pedestal is the enormous Thunder Stone, the largest stone ever moved by man.The stone originally weighed about 1500 tonnes, and was carved down to 1250 tonnes during transportation to its current site.

"Your English accent is too good for a Russian," Akhil commented fumbling with his hand cuffs and changing posture sitting a bit upright.

I was born and brought up in Virginia,US to a Russian mother and an American father.Quite a fairytale aint it?

Magdalia is a lady in her early thirties.Her complexion was white with a face carved right out of stone age.A lean physique with nerves protruding out of her forearm skin.A clear sign of extensive workout.Her hair was cut sharp with a deep scar on her left neck peeping through it.Her three quarter trousers hug tightly on to her legs exposing the well shaped out calf muscles.She never smiled.

Not quite.Your passport mentions you are a citizen of Russia hailing from St Petersberg.You are currently on the soil of Indian Republic working on a joint extradition operation between India and Russia.The American connection unnerves me.

Akhil is an officer working with the crime branch.He handles most cases related to international convicts and joint operations.Akhil is an ex army personnel having served in the army for 2 years.Tragedy struck when he was injured in a grenade attack in Baramula,Kashmir.He had to undergo a surgery on his right knee and was deemed unfit to serve the army.He joined the crime branch of police after this.He is well past his thirties.His personal life hasn't been great either.Akhil lost his wife a couple of years back after she was diagnosed with cancer 3 years back.

I  had a disturbed childhood.My dad was a FBI agent.He served in the department for 21 years before the state authorities figured out he was smuggling nuclear secrets to the Soviet.My family came under the scanner.My education was terminated mid way.My mother and I migrated to Russia about 6 years back.The Soviet government gave us refuge and citizenship.My family isn't proud of what my dad did.He was executed last year.

Enough about ourselves and places.Lets come straight to the point.When do we carry out the operation?Akhil felt restless.The danger looming on the sub continent was too high.Much higher than their personal pitfalls,dilemmas and sufferings.

A major arms deal was plotted in Ukraine between the soviet extremists and a major Bangladeshi terror group.The huge consignment was supposedly smuggled from Israel.It contained automatic firearms,ballistic missiles,sophisticated IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) and huge amount of shells and bullets.Report had it the whole consignment was supposed to reach the extremist groups via the Nepal border through Arunachal Pradesh into Bangladesh and Myanmar.China was notoriously close and obviously party to this deal and provided strategic support for execution.

Magdalia was visiting India on a tip off from the Soviet Government.Few insiders reported the consignment being held up due to internal negotiation issues.The two parties decided to meet at a neutral venue and Hyderabad was chosen as a safe haven to carry out the transaction as per intelligence reports.

I have a very vague description of the Ukranian agent.My information says the agent has arrived in city yesterday.I need a list of the people who have arrived from Ukraine/Russia in the country within the last 24 hours.Also scan for VISA stamping of people originating from Ukraine/Russia but entering through a different country.My best bet would be such people.

How can you be so sure the transaction would be conducted by the kingpins and not aliases?

Too big a deal to be handled by middlemen.

As far as the Bangladeshi guy is concerned we have rounded up a few guys and charged one of them with criminal conspiracy and acts of terrorism.This certainly paves way for the actual guy to certainly go ahead with the deal and be less cautious.We have eyes everywhere.Quite a few whispers growing louder.

Akhil handed over the list of the suspects to Magdalia in the morning.As suspected one of the Russian guys - Asya had traveled to Hyderabad from Kolkata the previous day traveling via Bangladesh.He checked in at one of the premier hotels of the city.Magdalia also checked in under a different name and passport to keep vigil.Akhil was on close guard.She befriended Asya and connected well speaking in Russian dialect.Asya introduced himself as a trader hailing from Russia.He claimed to own farming plots from his ancestors there.

"One more gorkilla for me." he called out to the bartender and continued talking to Magdalia.'What brings you to this part of the city lady ?'

'We Russians are good with the metals you know.My company moulds a few into firearms.I get to sell them'

They continued conversing for around an hour.Asya was disappointed after she left.

Magdalia you are following the wrong lead.Our men have intercepted few telephonic conversations between a terror outfit and a locale.Looks like a shift of plan.Asya could be setup for us to divert attention.Here are some pics showing two Russians spotted in the old city area today.Magdalia took those pics from Akhil and frowned deeply looking at them.

19th December ,2014 ,Friday - 2 pm

The security was tightened across the city.Akhil lay strong vigil on few suspects outside a mosque.Wasim along with few of his men were seen coming out of the mosque.These were the same men seen with the Russian men the previous day.After offering the afternoon prayers they headed straight into a mid sized truck and drove away.The police followed them immediately.The truck drove till Zaheerabad almost 60kms from the city.The police watched from a distance laying siege.

Magdalia had not joined the team and decided to keep vigil on Asya.She spent most of the time watching Asya from the lobby corridor.His local phone was tapped.Nothing suspicious came out.He mostly stayed indoors.He made a call at around five in the evening.From what seemed was a discussion with a pimp.Magdalia listened carefully.Asya requested for an escort for the evening and the night.The explicit description to the pimp was disgusting to Magdalia.'Horny bastard' she muttered keeping her phone down.She thought for a while and made a call to Akhil.Come down asap.We are heading for showdown.

Magdalia we are laying siege to the suspects.Your guy isn't impressive enough.

Let your boys handle it over there I need you here right now.

Akhil headed back with two other men.The rest stayed back keeping a close watch.

19th December 2014,Zaheerabad - 7:30 pm 

The two Russian men arrived in a small car.Wasim and his men stepped down from their car as well.The police which was in hiding surrounded the whole gang and asked them to surrender.Two of Wasims men pulled out a gun and took aim.They were immediately shot down.The others followed the orders and surrendered peacefully.After a thorough search a bag was found with only few packets of drugs in it.

Too small a quantity for a arms deal.The quantity seized is just a few grams higher than the permissible possession limit.Magdalia you were right - this was a trap to divert attention!

Akhil and Magdalia kept a watch on Asya.A stunning lady arrived in the porch area around 8 in the evening.Asya arrived to greet her.The lady was a living Goddess.Very sharp eyes with brown lenses.She was dressed in a black evening gown which hugged her figure exposing the curves carefully.The most stunning aspect was her jewellery.Decked from head to toe she carefully brandished precious stones for neck wear,ear rings ,finger rings etc

Magdalia and Akhil were in a fix.The suspects at Zaheerabad turned out to be bogus.Here we have another suspect with an escort.They had a single question in mind - where is the deal happening?

Magdalia was watching closely both of them as they sat across the table and chatted flirty. She scrolled though few of her databases and made few calls.Akhil seemed very confused and looked curiously towards Magdalia.After around twenty minutes she shook Akhil's hand strongly and said ' Come.Show time'

Both of them neared Asya and the lady.'Hands up you two.Leave aside everything you have and put your hands behind your back"

Akhil was still surprised and murmured strongly to Magdalia ' What the fuck are charges we press against them?'

Akhil - Look at the lady.The jewellery shes wearing is worth 500,000 USD.They have been smuggled across countries and is being used in the place of cash.From a very long time jewellery is used a mode of transaction.It helps avoid suspicion.

It turned out the lady was not an escort but an Islamic terror agent.She was  wanted in multiple money siphoning and smuggling cases in Soviet and other countries.Magdlia had made those calls and checks  precisely on this lady before they decided to place both on arrest.

The case was solved.The culprits nabbed.Akhil still had something bothering him.He called out to Magdalia - 'We all were convinced on the new tip offs.This guy seemed unconvincing.However you strongly believed him to be the main kingpin.Any special reasons?'

'Akhil legend has it guys tend to give things away while drinking with a girl.This guy introduced himself to be a Russian owning ancestral farms.Russians seldom own farms.This is something very common of Ukrainians.Next his third drink he ordered as  'Gorkilla".Ukranian guys call vodka with that name.Do you get it my dear Watson?" she smiled.

Akhil was visibly impressed with her intelligence and presence of mind.'Quite impressive I must admit' uttered Akhil shaking hands with her.

Magdalia was heading towards her car when Akhil called out to her 'Do I get to see you again Holmes"

Magdalia stopped.Turned back and came agonizingly close to Akhil pressing him close to his body.She leaned her head sideways and whispered 'Russian girls like the complexion of Indian guys like crazy my dear Watson !' she smiled wickedly and parted with another whisper "Dasvidaniya.

Avique