MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2022) Five Islamists from the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham terrorist organization (banned in Russia) were detained in several regions of Russia for collecting donations for militants in Syria, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Thursday.
"On the territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, Astrakhan, Volgograd, Samara and Moscow regions, five Russian citizens were detained - accomplices of the international terrorist organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, currently operating in Syria," the FSB said in a statement.
According to the FSB, the detainees collected and transferred money under the guise of charity for the needs of militants located in the terrorist-controlled Idlib zone in Syria.
The statement added that communications, payment instruments, and other documentary materials confirming the illegal activities of the detainees were found and seized at their places of residence.
Criminal cases have been opened on the promotion of terrorism, the message said.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham is one of the main radical Islamist groups involved in the Syrian civil war. In April and July last year, the group was preparing terrorist attacks in the Russian cities of Simferopol and Ufa, which were prevented by the FSB.
