The police and secret service had joined hands to track down the Hazb. Eight detentions were made on suspected terrorism and setting up an extremist league. Five of the detainees stay in custody.
Mr. Valeyev's men have ample evidence of a hostage-taking plot, and are ready to offer it to the law court, which will receive the file next month.
The Hazb-al-Tahrir is certainly active in the region. Policemen and the prosecutor's officers together seized several militants in Tobolsk last June. A stock of shot-guns and of Wahhabi printed matter was confiscated.
The Hazb intends to bring together all Russian Muslim-populated areas in an Islamic state. The federal Supreme Court outlawed it and similar leagues in a resolution of February 2003.
