Quick action by Campus Peace Officers at Hostos Community College could mean a trio of high tech operators, who tried to steal a copy of the licensing exam given twice yearly by the American Dental Association, will be having their future bridgework done by prison probers.

Chief Arnaldo Bernabe, director of public safety at the Bronx college, said the tricky trio was extracted from society shortly after 2:30 p.m. Dec. 3.

The chief said representatives of the Dental Association were using the college’s Savoy Manor Building at 120 Walton St. when Campus Security Assistant Rodolfo Cruz, who was on duty in the lobby of the building, became suspicious of an auto parked across the street directly in front of the building.

Cruz called for assistance and Corporal Carlos Suarez and Officer Victor Guzman responded. The two officers went to the car and saw two women inside, with a television monitor in plain view on the rear seat with a VCR hooked up.

On the monitor, the officers saw images coming from within the school, one of whom they recognized as an instructor who was proctoring a test. The officers also noticed that the women had placed their coats, like drapes, over the car’s windows facing the sidewalk.

The officers asked the women if they were waiting for someone, and they responded in a foreign language, which turned out to be Russian. Eventually they responded in English, saying they were not waiting for anyone, and that they did not own the vehicle in which they sat.

The officers then requested an insurance card for the vehicle and obtained a name. They provided this to Chief Bernabe, who had arrived on the scene with Sgt. Robert Curry, and Officers Reginald Pyram, Joseph Cruz, and Philip Atkins.

Bernabe ordered the women detained. Then the officers went to the testing area and asked the proctor if anyone by the name on the insurance card was taking the test. When told there was, the test taker was asked to step outside the class.

When the man emerged from the classroom, Bernabe said, the officers noticed a small opening in the lapel of his jacket. Under questioning, the man admitted it was a hidden wireless camera.

Bernabe ordered the trio, all Russians, to be arrested and their equipment seized. The two women, who were from Brooklyn, and the man, a Staten Islander, were all charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, and obstructing governmental administration.

When apprised of the arrest, Attorney General Elliott Spitzer said, “These defendants threatened to put dental patients throughout New York at risk. Had their plans to sell the tests been successful, an unknown number of unqualified dental school graduates would have received a license to practice."

The test, given to students who want to obtain a license to practice dentistry, is taken by 20,000 dental students nationwide annually.