Sumo wrestler 'steals cash machine from Moscow shop

Some $850 in Russian currency was allegedly taken

A man believed to be a sumo wrestler ripped out a cash machine weighing 90kg (200lb) and made off with it on his shoulders, police in Moscow report.

The suspect and an accomplice were arrested after being stopped in a BMW with tinted windows which they were driving without number-plates.

The machine containing 25,320 roubles ($850, £560) was found in the car.

Police say the accomplice tried to take the blame for the robbery, saying he had misled his sumo-wrestler friend.

They were alerted to the incident by a saleswoman, who said the suspects had walked into her shop in northern Moscow at 0600 (0300 GMT) and begun ripping out the electronic payment machine without a word.

When she tried to protest, one of the suspects allegedly yelled at her: "Be quiet if you know what's good for you!"

The frightened woman waited until the two men had left before phoning police, who dispatched two officers to Marshal Fedorenko Street where they blocked the BMW.

The man who allegedly carried the cash machine said he was a "professional sumo wrestler".

"The second rascal says it is his fault entirely and makes out that he misled his sumo-friend, telling him he was taking away his own machine," Moscow police's press service added.

Police said both suspects were from a "neighbouring country" but were registered as living in the Moscow area.