MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained two ringleaders and seven members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization outlawed in Russia, who were involved in creating clandestine networks, the FSB said in a statement on Friday.
"The Federal Security Service, acting in coordination with the Interior Ministry and the National Guard, carried out a special operation in Moscow, the Tatarstan and Tyumen regions, shutting down the activities of two ringleaders and seven members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami international terrorist organization," the statement reads.
"They worked purposefully to create the organization’s clandestine networks in Russia’s regions and resolved the issues of funding of its illegal activities," the FSB added.
According to the FSB, the detained sought to secretly spread terrorist ideas among Muslims. Propaganda materials related to Hizb ut-Tahrir, communication tools and digital data storage devices were seized from their homes.
"The collected evidence proves that the organization’s members were involved in anti-constitutional activities aimed at creating the so-called global caliphate, destroying secular public institutions and bringing down the current government through the use of force," the statement adds.
Criminal cases have been opened against the detained. An investigation is underway.