ISIS Terror Cell Busted in Moscow: The Uzbek-Turkish Connection
http://gatesofvienna.net/2016/03/isis-terror-cell-busted-in-moscow-the-uzbek-turkish-connection/Posted on March 31, 2016 by Baron Bodissey
This Russian TV news report details a raid on an apartment in Moscow that allegedly served as the headquarters of a cell of operatives for the Islamic State. The men who were arrested were all Uzbeks, but there may well be a Turkish connection, judging by the presence of forged Turkish IDs among the fake documents. It seems that the cell’s function was to facilitate the movement of people to and from Syria and Iraq through Turkey, and within the Russian Federation as well.
Many thanks to D@rLin|{ for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Transcript:
00:02 During a special op 18 recruiters for ISIS — a terrorist group which is banned in Russia — were arrested today in Moscow.
00:08 The news comes from TASS, which quotes police as the source.
00:12 Those detained did not resist arrest. The flat is sparsely furnished;
00:16 the suspects slept on the mattresses, on the floor.
00:24 The majority of their belongings is hardware: copiers, scanners and computers.
00:31 Throughout the flat police found the end product of the suspects’ activities:
00:39 documents, forms, medical certificates and, most importantly, passports,
00:42 which according to the police, were created mostly for the ISIS members.
00:49 ISIS is a terrorist group which is banned from the Russian Federation.
00:53 The passports were also prepared for those who are planning to join ISIS,
01:00 or are planning to enter Russia with intention to participate in acts of terror.
01:04 The detained denied accusations, but could not explain the faked documents found in their flat.
01:16 What were you doing here? I live here.
01:21 Do you? Are you employed? Yes, I work in Moscow suburbs. Whose documents are here? I don’t know.
01:40 It is worth mentioning that detained were well behaved;
01:44 they did not draw any attention to themselves.
01:47 Neither neighbors nor the owner of the two-bedroom flat knew about their activities.
01:57 Did you check their IDs? Yes, the realtor did and signed the lease accordingly.
02:01 So you trusted the realtor but did not check yourself?
02:13 Basically the police uncovered an internationally operating criminal group,
02:17 which provided documents for extremists and also foreign workers who were already in Russia.
02:29 We are reporting from one of the raided locations, where five members of the group were arrested.
02:36 Between the documents we saw Turkish driving licenses.
02:48 The faked documents are used to leave Russia and go to the zones of armed conflict,
02:58 or to legally enter Russia, specifically Moscow.
03:04 Police raided several addresses at the same time; the action is still ongoing.
03:10 My colleague is now at one of the other addresses.
03:16 We are at the Moscow center. The police arrived at the five-bedroom flat in this building.
03:26 The suspects were taken by surprise; 13 people were arrested. All of them are citizens of Uzbekistan.
03:36 The police discovered a hidden room with all the equipment needed
03:41 for faking passports, forms and other documents.
03:50 All these documents were used to allow foreigners who have just arrived in Russia to stay here legally.
04:05 We saw some of these documents and especially huge numbers of SIM cards.
04:12 All of these SIMs were purchased in Moscow then were activated
04:16 through different organizations and transferred to Syria, to ISIS.
04:34 The purpose is to allow terrorists to stay under the radar,
04:38 since the numbers are practically untraceable.
04:50 Police are questioning the detained. We are reporting from the
04:54 flat’s location, where criminologists are still investigating.
05:10 Our reporters witnessed the arrest of recruiters for ISIS. This group is illegal in Russia.
