Russia's Federal Security Service said intelligence agents have detained nearly two dozen members of a banned Islamist organization in the Moscow region, TASS reported.
A joint operation of the FSB and the Interior Ministry has led to the detention of at least 20 members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist organization banned in Russia as a “terrorist” group, the FSB said, state news agency TASS reported Tuesday.
The announcement came just hours after President Vladimir Putin said intelligence agents had foiled 20 terrorist plots in Russia this year.
Raids in the Moscow region Monday have “foiled the illegal activities of an organized, deeply secretive cell of the international terrorist group, Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami,” an FSB spokesperson was quoted by TASS as saying, adding that the cell was headed by natives of Central Asian regions, and involved a number of Russian citizens.
Earlier on Tuesday, Interfax news agency reported that 10 people from Central Asia were arrested in Moscow and the surrounding region on suspicion of involvement with the Islamic State terror organization.
Another group of 12 people was detained earlier this month in Moscow on suspicion of plotting a terrorist attack on the city's public transit system, law enforcement officials said.
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