MOSCOW, March 17 (RAPSI) – Investigation into 11 employees of the U.S. Department of Justice and 6 citizens of Liberia suspected of kidnapping of Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko has been resumed, the press service of Russia’s Investigative Committee reports.

The probe is reopened basing on the necessity to take additional investigative and procedural measures in the case. An investigator will send requests, including repeated ones, to the U.S and Liberian authorized bodies in order to receive information on the intelligence employees allegedly involved in the crime against Yaroshenko, the pilot’s health condition and the possibility of his interrogation, the statement reads.

The wife of Yaroshenko is to be recognized as victim in the case and to be questioned.

According to case papers, on May 28, 2010, the Russian pilot was kidnapped by the suspects from a hotel parking in Liberia under the guise of arrest for alleged drug trade by Yaroshenko and his accomplices. Soon afterwards, he was flown to the U.S. without any legal grounds and obligatory informing Russia’s diplomatic offices.

On September 7, 2011, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for colluding to smuggle cocaine into the United States. He was caught after replying to an advertisement posted by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents who claimed they were selling a cargo plane for $1.

He is serving his term in the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

In May 2016, a U.S. court dismissed his appeal for retrial. Russia’s Foreign Ministry said this is evidence that Yaroshenko’s conviction was politically influenced.