The danger of terrorist acts has now diminished somewhat

Law enforcement authorities officially announced that a series of terrorist acts had recently been prevented in several Russian cities, revealing some details of the operation. Interior Minister said a number of people had been detained in Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, and Rostov-on-Don, as well as in the Republic of Dagestan. A series of operations carried out simultaneously in various cities turned up a large amount of explosives, detonators, and a re­mote control device, while several people suspected of preparing acts of ter­rorism and sabotage were detained. One terrorist group leader was detained at Moscow's Kursky railway station.

Police point to the detainees' connection with Chechen rebels. Citing the secrecy of investigation, law enforcement officials do not disclose all details of the operation. Even so, we managed to establish some particulars.

According to the head of a Federal Security Service (FSB) department, the FSB Volgograd Directorate played a key role in the operation, securing infor­mation that led to subsequent detentions. Friday night, July 21, in a large-scale operation in Volgograd, federal agents detained members of an interregional crime group allegedly preparing a series of terrorist acts. The action was carried out by FSB Volgograd Directorate jointly with the Organized Crime and Cor­ruption Control Directorate. In all, 14 people were detained, among them Slavs, Chechens, and one Moroccan. Three of the group's organizers have long been on the federal wanted list while some of those arrested are responsible for a number of serious crimes, including robbery and murder.

A search turned up 400 grams of TNT, 200 grams of plastic explosives, two electrical detonators, three pistols, several dozen live cartridges, and a large number of photographs of the exterior and interior of the Volgograd railway terminal and Moscow State University.

According to the Prosecutor's Officer press service, a bus and a car with thesuspects were placed under surveillance in the south of the Volgograd region late last week with federal agents following them as they moved north.

According to the chief of the FSB Volgograd Directorate, there is irrefutable evidence showing that a major bomb attack was being prepared at the Volgo­grad railway station for the end of July. Furthermore, there is reason to believe that the criminal group was getting ready to stage terrorist acts not only in Volgograd, Nizhny Volgograd, and Moscow, but also in Tula, Kursk, and a number of other cities in the country's European part.

FSB Directorate agents who took part in the operation said some of the de­tainees had been engaged in hostilities in Chechnya and Dagestan and trained by warlord Khattab's instructors. There is conclusive evidence pointing to the bandits' involvement in the terrorist act committed in Volgograd on May 31, which left two servicemen dead.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20