IRKUTSK, May 10 - RAPSI. Irkutsk police have charged three residents of the town of Usolye-Sibirskoye of oil theft. This crime resulted in the 300 tonne oil spill in the Angara-river in Siberia, the Interior Ministry reported on Thursday.

In late April the police found an illegal tie-in to the local oil pipeline near the waste water head, out of which over 300 tonnes of oil spilled into the Angara-river. Consequently, over 77,000 people in Irkutsk region were left without clean water for nearly a week.

The police detained four individuals suspected of the oil theft, three of them were later arrested. "Three men have been charged with oil theft," the Interior Ministry reports.

The law enforcement agencies have also opened a case on charges of water contamination.

The Federal Service for the Oversight of Natural Resources earlier estimated the environmental damage at nearly 500 million rubles ($16.77 million).