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Saboteurs detained at border with Ukraine had explosive devices, says BelTA news agency

The group consisted of citizens of Ukraine and Belarus

MINSK, February 16. /TASS/. Members of a sabotage and reconnaissance group were detained during an operation conducted by the Belarusian security forces at the border with Ukraine, where explosive devices and other means of destruction were found in the possession of the perpetrators, the BelTA news agency said citing Belarus’ State Security Committee.

The Committee reported that early on February 15, a group of people was spotted in the Lelchitsy district illegally crossing the state border from Ukrainian territory. Security forces cordoned off the area. As a result of the operation, members of a sabotage and reconnaissance group consisting of citizens of Ukraine, Belarus and their accomplices were apprehended in the border area.

Earlier on Friday, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that saboteurs, who were smuggling explosives for acts of sabotage in Russia and Belarus, had been detained in the Lelchitsy district near the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.

On Thursday, a counterterrorism operation was declared in the Lelchitsy district of Belarus’ Gomel Region. On Friday, a local newspaper reported citing the KGB’s department for the Gomel Region that the anti-terror operation had been called off.

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