MOSCOW, August 2 (RAPSI) – Prosecutors have intervened to see through the launch of a criminal case over the murder of polar bears in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Russia, the Prosecutor General’s Office announced on Wednesday.

On July 24, members of the expedition launched by the Russian center for Arctic development told police that dead bodies of six polar bears, listed in the Red Book of endangered species, as well as used gun cases were found at Vilkitsky Island.

Local investigators did not launch a criminal case after receiving this information requiring prosecutors to intervene. The case was eventually opened under “illegal hunting” article of the Criminal Code.