BAKU, Sept 14 (AFP) - The former Soviet republic of Azerbaijan said Tuesday it had cracked open a massive exam cheating scam in which education officials pocketed thousands of dollars by selling students the answers to exam questions.
The night before university entrance exams were due to start, an insider smuggled a copy of the exam paper out of the offices of the state examination board, and with the help of accomplices drew up the answers to the questions in the paper.
The questions and answers were then photocopied onto easy-to-conceal crib sheets and passed out among students, for a fee, before they went into their exams, Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry said in a statement.
Among those arrested are an employee of the examination board, two policemen who were supposed to be guarding the board's offices and a head of department at a university in the city of Sumqait.
According to the security ministry, the conspirators netted a total of 200,000 dollars (163,000 euros) from would-be university students and their parents in exchange for the exam papers.
Investigators from the security ministry were called in when examiners noticed that answers submitted by hundreds of students were suspiciously alike.
Some observers say the exam papers scam is just the tip of the iceberg in an education system riddled with corruption. Students in Azerbaijan routinely pay bribes to their professors to get a good grade.
But the security ministry said it was determined to stamp out all cheating in the country's schools and universities.
A high standard of education "plays an important role in forming international opinion of Azerbaijan as a nation with high intellectual potential," the ministry said.