Imam Who Possessed Weapons Detained in Russia's South-West

By The Moscow Times

Dec. 15, 2015

Andrey Stenin / RIA Novosti archive / Wikicommons

A local mosque imam was detained in Belgorod, a south-western Russian city, on Saturday, local law enforcing institutions source said, state news agency TASS reported Tuesday.

The imam was detained by Federal Security Service officers at his apartment, where multiple weapons and explosives had been discovered, sources said.

Officials from regional FSB and police officers declined to comment on the detention, TASS said.

In October, FSB reported that intelligence agents had detained at least 20 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist organization banned in Russia as a “terrorist” group organization, in the Moscow region.

Earlier in October, 10 people from Central Asia were arrested in Moscow and the surrounding region, on suspicion of involvement with the Islamic State terror organization, media reported.

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