Story By:  Gheorghi Caraseni, Sub Editor:  Joseph Golder,  Agency: Central European News

This Russian woman has been left outraged after the storage company where she left her Indian rugs worth 160,000 GBP claimed they had been eaten by moths when she found the lot empty.

The incident took place at the Safe Box storage facility in the Russian capital Moscow where Elena Ulichnova left a set of between 200-250 Indian rugs worth a reported 15 million RUB (168,300 GBP).

Ulichnova admitted to local newspaper Vesti she was late in her payment for the storage box but when she went to pick the rugs up “they told me that moths had eaten them and they had to throw them away”.

She told Vesti that she then called her lawyer Yashar Gadzhiev, and they went to the company’s office, demanding to talk to the management.

However, she says the staff refused to let them speak to the managers, claiming they were not there.

Lawyer Gadzhiev told Vesti he was shocked the company had even opened the storage unit as this broke their contract and they had no right to do so.

He said: “They should have charged an extra fee or given a fine for the delay in the monthly payment, not thrown the products away.”

The lawyer said the company’s actions could be qualified as intentional destruction or damage of property, punishable by up to 3.5 years in prison.

No official complaint has yet been filed, however, Ulichnova says she is keen to make a report against the company if there is no settlement.

Vesti report the case comes after the Ulshiny family reported a similar case at Safe Box, saying staff threw away their sportswear and equipment worth 1.5 million RUB (16,830 GBP) from a unit after they were late with a monthly payment.

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