MOSCOW, October 5. /TASS/. Russia’s law enforcement officers have quashed the activities of the Nurdzhular extremist organization (banned in Russia), which recruited students in the Moscow Region, the Ministry of Internal Affairs told TASS on Tuesday.

"[In the Moscow Region], the activities of the Nurdzhular extremist organization have been suppressed. <…> They picked and recruited new members, primarily among Moscow students," the press service said.

Senior assistant to the Head of the Moscow Department of the Investigative Committee Yulia Ivanova noted that a criminal case was launched under Part 1 and 2 of Article 282.2 of the Russian Criminal Code (organizing and participating in the activities of an extremist organization). "Currently, a number of suspects have been identified and detained, they will be delivered to the [police] department to carry out the necessary investigative actions," she stated.

The organization’s members selected students for further training in religious centers abroad, methodically coordinating the cells in the Russian regions. "Thus, the Center for Combating Extremism within the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, jointly with the FSB, recorded over 250 meetings for the study of Nurdzhular’s ideological basis, specifically from literature indicated on the federal list of extremist materials," the press service noted.

The Investigative Committee’s Central Office mentioned that the meetings were held from December 2019 to January 2020. The law enforcement agencies searched some 12 addresses during the operation in Moscow and its suburbs, detaining several suspects.