MOSCOW, November 5 (RAPSI) – Police have detained an alleged member of an extremist Islamist group suspected of recruiting “shy and introverted” girls in Moscow, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
Police said that the detained man was a member of the At-Takfir wal-Hidjra Islamist group, which was declared extremist in Russia in 2010. Investigators say the man managed to recruit four young women to the ranks of the organization.
“He approached them both on the streets of Moscow and on social networking sites. The man went after shy and introverted girls. Investigators believe he was especially good at establishing a rapport with such women,” the police said.
After the man gained the trust of the young women, he allegedly persuaded them to move in with him before introducing them to radical Islam. Three of the girls tracked down by the police refused to return to their families and continue to live in radicalized Islamic communities, the Interior Ministry said.
The suspect was detained while leaving his residence in the Moscow Region town of Balashikha. He allegedly had three grams of amphetamine with him, as well as a handgun in his car.
In his apartment, the police found banned books on radical Islam.
Russia, which is battling a simmering Islamist insurgency in its southern North Caucasus region, has been on high alert over terrorism concerns in the run-up to next year’s Winter Olympics in the Black Sea city of Sochi, and after a recent bus bombing in another southern city, Volgograd. That act is believed to have been perpetrated by a 30-year-old Muslim female suicide bomber from the North Caucasus.
Alleged Extremist Held on Suspicion of Recruiting ‘Shy Girls’
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Police have detained an alleged member of an extremist Islamist group suspected of recruiting “shy and introverted” girls in Moscow, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
