Arms, ammunition hideouts found in Chechnya - 5 October, 2002

Four hideouts with weapons and ammunition have been discovered during a special operation in the Urus-Martan district in Chechnya by an operative group of the federal Interior Ministry, RIA Novosti learnt at the Khankala ad-hoc ministerial press center on Saturday.

Policemen were conducting pinpoint checks in the Komsomolskoe populated place. A hideout found in a desolate house proved to contain a RPG-22 grenade-thrower, submachine gun magazines, over a hundred different-gage rounds for automatic weapons.

The ad-hoc press center of the Interior Ministry reports that in the Urus-Martan district during 24 hours have been seized: a submachine gun, three grenade-throwers, 11 sporting guns, 4,500 different-gage rounds for automatic weapons, 34 grenades, 12 grenade-thrower rounds, five mines, fuses and electric detonators. Two self-made bombs have been discovered and destroyed.

During 24 hours in operative-search operations policemen have inspected 14,000 vehicles, checked the documents of over 20,000 persons with the use of an automatic information system, discovered 211 administrative offenses.

On Friday in the Kobi populated place in the Shelkovskaya district, officers from the section for combatting illegal drug trafficking of an operative group of the Interior Ministry held pinpoint checks within the on-going Mak-2002 (Poppy-2002) operation. A plantation of 65 hemp plants has been found on a plot of land owned by a 39-year-old villager. He has been detained and a criminal case against him is pending, said the ad-hoc press center.

Thirty illegal mini-oil refineries were discovered in Chechnya on Friday. They have all been blown up or dismounted.

On Friday in the Selski district of Grozny, near the Berdykel populated place law-enforcers detained a truck having no number plate. The driver was a local, born in 1973. The truck was carrying 10 tonnes of oil. Investigators have established that the oil was stolen from a nearby oil refinery. A criminal case has been initiated and investigation is under way.

In all, during 24 hours the operative group has seized and put into temporary storehouses 21.5 tonnes of fuel and lubricants, said the ad-hoc press center of the Interior Ministry.