MOSCOW, November 15 - RAPSI. The Tajik law enforcement authorities must provide their Russian colleagues with materials in a criminal case initiated against Rolkan Investmens Ltd. management; and two Russian pilots convicted of smuggling in early November, Interior Ministry told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

A Kurganteppa court sentenced on November 8 Russian citizen pilot Vladimir Sadovnichy and Estonian pilot Alexei Rudenko to 8.5 years in prison for illegally crossing the border, contraband and violating international air transportation rules.

Rolkan Investmens' An-72 planes piloted by Sadovnichy and Rudenko flew on March 11 from Kabul to the Kurganteppa airport after they executed a contract on transporting humanitarian aid to Afghanistan. The pilots were permitted to cross the Tajik border.

Later, the dispatcher said they were not permitted to land, and the planes were forced to return to Kabul. As the planes did not have enough fuel to fly back, the pilots landed in Kurganteppa where they were eventually detained.

Earlier, a spokesperson for the Tajik Prosecutor General's Office told RIA Novosti that a criminal case was initiated against the company's management. He added that pursuant to the new criminal case initiated last Friday, Sergei Poluyanov, the company's head, faces the same charges as the convicted pilots Sadovnuchy and Rudenko.