MINSK, October 16. /TASS/. Belarusian law enforcement officers have prevented a series of terrorist attacks in the country, detaining several people on suspicion of plotting sabotage, the Belarus-1 television channel reported on Sunday.
The detained people were recruited by BYPOL, an organization that Belarus designated as a terrorist group, and opposition abroad, according to the report. The channel said the suspects received bomb planting orders in a chat bot on the Telegram messenger.
The detainees are making confessionary statements and are ready to cooperate with the investigation, Belarus-1 said. Belarussian Deputy Interior Minister Gennady Kazakevich told the channel that "The BYPOL initiative is a western intelligence services project that’s been generously funded and promoted for a long time."
"Recently, including in connection with the special operation of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine, this project aims at a forcible overthrow of government in the republic," the official said.
According to the deputy minister, "members of illegal military formations, including those that are part of this project, are trained in Poland and gain combat experience on the territory of Ukraine".
Belarusian law enforcement agencies, including the Interior Ministry and its department for fighting organized crime and corruption, "are in control of the operational situation and conspiracies of our enemies," Kazakevich said. "We are ready to respond as quickly, harshly and, most importantly, effectively as possible to any manifestations of terrorist or extremist threat".