Five more members of a terrorist cell in the Kalmyk colony, whose leadership provided "general patronage" to Islamists for bribes, have been detained, the Russian Investigative Committee reports.
According to investigators, the terrorist community in the colony No. 2 no later than 2013 was created by a native of Dagestan, Shahban Hasanov, who served time there for illegal arms trafficking. For 2013-2019, the organization, according to the IC, included more than a hundred convicts, and "the management of the colony provided (them) with general patronage for financial compensation".
After his release in 2015, Hasanov declared himself Amir of Dagestan and headed the Kizlyar sector group. On March 31, 2015, he was liquidated in Khasavyurt. And in December 2019, during searches in the colony, extremist literature and symbols of the banned terrorist organization "Islamic State" (banned in the Russian Federation) were found.
"On the twenty-ninth of July <...> large-scale measures were carried out by the investigators, including searches of the places of residence of suspects and their close relatives. Five persons who previously served sentences in colony NO 2 were detained, " the release reads.
The operation took place in Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan and Buryatia. The investigation will seek to place new defendants in custody.
"Thus, 40 persons are involved in the case as suspects and accused, including the head of Colony NO 2 Pavel Batayev and his former Deputy Artur Tsamaev. In relation to one of the participants of the terrorist community, Mikhail Zhigunov, the criminal case was sent to the court in July 2020 for consideration on the merits," the report says.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Press service of the FSB of Russia / TASS
Based on materials from RIA Novosti