A police detail searching for stolen cars outside the Russian capital this weekend stumbled onto the find, Moscow police told Interfax, without elaborating.

The discovery follows last week's arrest of a British national who allegedly bought a surface-to-air missile in Russia with the intent of supplying it to US undercover agents posing as terrorists.

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union and the subsequent disintegration of Russia's armed forces, concern has mounted that Russian weapons could fall into criminal hands.

A Russian surface-to-air missile was used by unknown assailants in November when they tried to shoot down an Israeli charter flight taking off from Mombasa, Kenya.

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