The 235th Garrison Military Court of Moscow ordered the arrest on 14 October, but the decision became known only in early November, 71.RU reported. Lukin's defence has appealed the ruling.
Details of the smuggling case have not been disclosed, and the Investigative Committee and other law enforcement agencies have issued no official statements, according to Kommersant.
TASS, citing an unnamed law enforcement source, reported that Lukin faces up to 12 years in prison.
Kommersant had earlier reported that the Investigative Committee's Main Military Investigation Directorate accused Lukin of large-scale fraud. A source in law enforcement later told TASS that the defendant had been charged with smuggling.
Lukin ran the Tula Cartridge Plant from January 2023, first as acting head and then, from March, as general director. In the summer of that year he also took charge of the management company of the Ulyanovsk Cartridge Plant, heading both enterprises for a time. By the end of 2024 he was replaced in that post by Anatoly Luzgin.
On 29 October Alexei Rybakov, previously the plant's security director, was appointed general director of the Tula Cartridge Plant.
The Tula Cartridge Plant is one of Russia's largest manufacturers of small-arms ammunition. It produces cartridges for civilian and military use, including for the Russian armed forces, and supplies more than 50 countries under the TulAmmo brand. The Ulyanovsk plant was founded in 1916 and specialises in ammunition for rifled weapons.
In February 2024 the European Union imposed sanctions on the Tula Cartridge Plant and on Lukin personally, citing the plant's production of ammunition for the Russian army.