MOSCOW, November 13. /TASS/. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) detained a man from a Central Asian country in Stavropol who was planning to bomb a shopping mall, the agency’s Public Relations Center said.
TASS has gathered the key details known so far.
Plot thwarted
- The FSB’s Public Relations Center said the suspect was a citizen of a Central Asian country and a member of an international terrorist organization banned in Russia.
- According to the FSB, the man swore allegiance to the group’s leader and planned to fulfill his pledge by detonating an improvised explosive device at a shopping mall in Stavropol.
- The center said he had surveyed the area, studied foot traffic, selected a location for the device and acquired materials to make it.
- The FSB said the man planned to travel to Syria after the attack and join the group’s ranks there.
- The center reported that FSB officers tracked him down and detained him before he could carry out the attack.
- Officers seized components of the device and communications equipment containing instructions from his handler during a search of his home.
Confession
- In a video released by the FSB’s Public Relations Center, the detainee admitted to planning a terrorist attack.
- He said he had been in touch with someone who was abroad and had wanted to travel there himself.
- The man stated he had followed instructions to travel to Stavropol, enter a shopping mall, film it and buy items for the attack.
- He said FSB officers detained him during one of his trips to the mall.
Investigation
- Investigators with the FSB’s Stavropol Region branch initiated a criminal case under Part 1 of Article 30 and Part 2 of Article 205 of the Russian Criminal Code.
- The detainee faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years.