3 terrorists arrested in Chechnya

Three terrorists and a criminal who has been wanted by the federal authorities since March of 2001 have been arrested in Chechnya. According to the provisional press center of the Khankala-based interior ministry, the whereabouts of the criminal had been reported by locals. The 33-year-old man, a Chechen by birth, was arrested in the village of Komsomolskoye.

A member of a separatist armed unit was detained in the village of Kulary, Urus-Martan district. The man carried a forged passport. Yet another militant arrested in the same district had weapons and ammunition in his possession. During preliminary interrogation, he told law enforcers about an accomplice of his, a 21-year-old local, who was immediately arrested. It was established that the second arrestee and three other bandits were responsible for a number of serious crimes. The police are taking measures to track down each one of them.

Over the past 24 hours, Chechen law enforcers seized a large amount of weapons and ammunition. A cache containing 50 pressure-activated landmines was discovered by officers from the Nozhai-Yurt police office on the outskirts of the village of Yalkhoi-Mokhk. The provisional press center of the Khankala-based interior ministry described the situation in Chechnya as "very complicated." According to its employees, mining of roads and armed attacks on the federal forces remain in the focus of Chechen militants' subversive activity.