MOSCOW, Dec 22: Three Pakistanis will be tried in Moscow for allegedly kidnapping of nine Indian citizens last year, a judge said on Monday after postponing proceedings to allow for the third defendant to be added to the case.

The victims were seized in December last year by an international crime gang that included the three defendants. They demanded a 3,200 US dollar ransom for the release of each captive, police told the Itar- Tass news agency.

All nine hostages were released last January during a special operation by the FSB domestic intelligence service in the city of Tula, some 150 km south of the Russian capital.

As well as kidnapping, the crime ring also stands accused of smuggling people from southeast Asia via the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to the West, according to the FSB.

The trial will go ahead once prosecutors have incorporated the case against the third gang member, who was arrested last month, said judge Dmitry Manekin.—dpa