MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a man from Central Asia in Stavropol who was planning to bomb a shopping mall, the agency’s press service said.

"A terrorist attack planned by a citizen of a Central Asian country who was a member of an international terrorist organization banned in Russia was thwarted in Stavropol," it reported.

According to the FSB, the man pledged allegiance to the group’s leader and planned to detonate an improvised explosive device at a shopping mall in Stavropol to make good on his pledge. The agency said he had scouted the area and acquired materials for the device. He planned to travel to Syria after the attack and join the group’s ranks there.

"The operation enabled FSB officers to identify and detain the man in time," the press service said.

Officers found and seized components of the device and communications equipment containing instructions from his handler at his home.

Investigators with the FSB’s Stavropol Region branch opened a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 30 and Part 2 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code.