MOSCOW, April 16 - RAPSI. The police have exposed the theft of crude oil worth over 200 million rubles ($6.36 million) from pipelines and storage tanks in Kalmykia and the Astrakhan Region, the Interior Ministry reported on Tuesday.

The police have arrested 27 people, and the suspected organizer of the scheme, together with two accomplices have been taken into custody.

According to the authorities, the criminals refined the stolen oil at their own underground facilities with a monthly turnover in excess of 20 million rubles ($636,000). The police believe they marketed the products through a local gas station chain they also control.

The volume of stolen oil is estimated at over 15,000 metric tons.

The suspects' homes have been searched, as well as three underground refineries. The police found tanks holding 550 tons of oil and five railway tanks of refined products and seized the records of the illegal business.