Zalim Kerefov, the deputy rector of the Russian Customs Academy who had been arrested on charges of alleged drug dealing, has been found dead in police custody.
Olga Vrady, a spokeswoman for the powerful Investigative Committee, did not disclose that it had been Kerefov, only saying on July 18 that a person charged with dealing drugs in large amounts had been found dead "with bodily harm" two days earlier in a cell at a detention center in the city of Noginsk, near Moscow.
Vrady added that a probe had been launched against guards at the facility for negligence.
Kerefov’s lawyer Aleksei Tsyganov confirmed to the state-run TASS news agency that it was his client who had been found dead at the detention center. He also cast doubt on some reports suggesting Kerefov may have died by suicide.
"He had plans for the future and little children. He is not a person who could [commit suicide]," Tsyganov said.
Kerefov was arrested on July 5 and charged with selling two kilograms of an unspecified drug via a darknet site.
Tsyganov said earlier that Kerefov had pleaded guilty.
The Russian Customs Academy is based in Moscow and has branches across Russia. It is run by the Federal Custom Service to train custom officers not only from Russia but elsewhere, mostly former Soviet republics.