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IS member who plotted Moscow court blast handed 19 years behind bars, FSB reports

The convicted terrorist plotted to detonate an improvised explosive device on the premises of the Second Western Military District Court

MOSCOW, December 28. /TASS/. An Islamic State member (IS — terrorist organization, outlawed in Russia) who plotted an explosion in a Moscow military court and sought to travel to a combat zone in the Middle East has been sentenced to 19 years in prison, the FSB press office told TASS.

"The Second Western Military District Court has sentenced Umarov A.S. to 19 years of incarceration in a maximum-security correctional facility," the Federal Security Service reported. The convict is a citizen of a Central Asian republic. The verdict has entered into force.

According to the FSB, Umarov plotted to detonate an improvised explosive device on the premises of the Second Western Military District Court. He was employed as handyman in a Russian family residing in a local suburban dacha. According to the instructions he received from his IS ringleaders, he purchased chemicals to put together IEDs along with striking elements from a hardware store. After constructing the bomb, Umarov hid it in a wooded area near his home. Based on the scheme, had the terrorist attack been carried out, he would have headed to a war zone in the Middle East and joined up with terrorist groups.

In November 2020, Umarov was detained in the Moscow Region. During the ensuing search by police, a cache was uncovered containing an improvised explosive device, power supply elements, a flag with IS symbols, and a change of clothes and means of communication.

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