Police in the Russian Republic of Daghestan have arrested four people allegedly linked to the terrorist cell behind the attack on Moscow’s Crocus City Hall in March.
On Monday, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) stated that the four suspects planned to carry out attacks in the Daghestani city of Kaspiysk.
They said the four were also involved in financing the perpetrators of the 22 March attack on the Crocus City Hall concert hall in Moscow. They added that the four were foreign nationals.
Russia’s National Antiterrorism Committee said the arrests on Sunday were made in the Daghestani capital Makhachkala and in Kaspiysk.
They stated that security forces in the two cities detained ‘three bandits who were planning to commit a number of terrorist crimes’. They added that suspects were in possession of automatic weapons, ammunition, and improvised explosives from the suspects.
Earlier that day, the FSB told Interfax that the counterterrorism regime in Makachkala and Kaspiysk would last between 05:35 and noon on Sunday.
Head of Daghestan Sergei Melikov later stated on Telegram that there were no casualties during the arrests.
‘The most important thing is that the [counterterrorism operation] ensured the complete safety of civilians: there were no casualties among citizens and no losses among law enforcement personnel’, writes Melikov.