Alleged members of a cell busted in Dagestan were involved in logistics of concert-hall massacre, the security service is claiming
A group of four militants captured on Sunday morning in Russia’s Dagestan had a role in financing and providing equipment for the Crocus City Hall terrorist attack earlier this month, the Russian security service FSB stated on Monday.
The short statement described the group as a terrorist cell composed of foreign nationals, who were allegedly planning a mass-casualty attack in the city of Kaspiysk using automatic firearms and explosives. The group planned to escape Russia right after carrying out the plot, the FSB said.
The statement referred to “direct involvement” in the provision of money and “means for terror” to the perpetrators of the March 22 massacre outside Moscow. The four alleged gunmen, whose attack at the concert venue claimed over 140 lives, were detained shortly after their strike, while purportedly trying to get to the Russia-Ukraine border.
In a video released by the FSB, the faces of the suspects were blurred. One of them said that he’d personally delivered firearms to the Crocus attackers. It also included CCTV footage apparently showing the man’s car driving around a particular street, presumably near where the suspected gunmen stayed.
Another part of the footage showed two of the suspected terrorists with a bunch of cash near an ATM, presumably to make a money transfer.
A total of 12 people have so far been detained in Russia for suspected links to the massacre at Crocus City Hall. Eight of them, including the alleged gunmen, face life imprisonment if convicted on terrorism charges brought against them.