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FSB nabs Syrian militants’ fundraisers in five Russian regions

FSB operatives found at the suspects’ residence communications means, payment instruments and other documents confirming their unlawful activity

MOSCOW, July 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) apprehended accomplices of a terrorist group active in Syria involved in raising funds for Syrian militants under the guise of charity, the FSB press office told TASS on Thursday.

"The Federal Security Service has apprehended on the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, the Astrakhan, Volgograd, Samara and Moscow Regions five Russian citizens - accomplices of the Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham international terrorist organization [outlawed in Russia] currently active on Syrian territory," the press office said.

On instructions from the terrorist organization’s emissaries, the apprehended individuals set up a ramified inter-regional network for collecting, accumulating and transferring funds to accounts and bankcards registered on behalf of third parties, the FSB specified.

"The funds received under the guise of charitable activity were remitted for militants’ needs to the Idlib zone in the Syrian Arab Republic controlled by terrorists," the press office said.

FSB operatives found at the suspects’ residence communications means, payment instruments and other documents confirming their unlawful activity. Investigators have opened criminal cases against the suspects on charges of complicity in terrorist activity, the FSB said.

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