His accomplices, a man and a woman, hijacked at gunpoint a Mi-2 helicopter booked for a "business delegation" and forced the pilot to fly to the jail and hover over their friend as he climbed up the ladder. Witnesses said guards fired on the helicopter as it flew away, to no avail. The aircraft was later found abandoned by a road on the edge of Vologda. The pilot was discovered several miles away, bound and gagged.