Chechen separatist in custody

One of Chechen separatist leader Shamil Basayev's supporters, a certain Abdulla Aliev, arrived at the prosecutor's office in Daghestan (a Russian autonomy on the western coast of the Caspian Sea bordering Chechnya) from Istanbul, said a source in the republic's government.

"He was an ideologist of Chechen extremism from Shamil Basayev's group," the source said.

According to the source, the 72-year-old Aliev arrived in Makhachkala today on a charter flight from Istanbul and is now at the prosecutor's office.

After an attack by Basayev and Khattab's groups in 1999, the prosecutor launched a criminal case against Aliev. According to the source, since then he was on Interpol's wanted list.

Aliev was living incognito in Turkey.