Terrorist Khattab's Associate Extorted Hard Currency In Georgia's Pankisi Gorge For Terrorists

One of the closest associates of field commander Khattab, mercenary Abu Sayakh, detained the other day in a special operation, for a long time stayed in Georgia's Pankisi Gorge where he extorted hard currency from Georgian citizens for Chechen rebels, a spokesman for the Russian Defence Ministry said. Russia knows for certain that Abu Sayakh was behind, and took part in, kidnappings of rich Georgian citizens by Chechen rebels, whom they held in the Pankisi Gorge to ransom, the spokesman said. The money, obtained in this criminal way, was used to pay for the organisation of terrorist acts on the territory of Chechnya.