ST. PETERSBURG. June 27 (Interfax) - The Federal Security Service (FSB) department for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region said it denied information reported by mass media outlets that individuals - detained on suspicion of forming in St. Petersburg a branch of Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic organization banned - plotted a terrorist attack.
"We deny information of the alleged terrorist attack plotted by Hizb ut-Tahrir participants detained. The information reported is not true," the department told Interfax on Thursday having refused to elaborate on the issue.
At the same time, media reports on the connection between Hizb ut-Tahrir and the St. Petersburg State Marine Technical University are not true either, a law enforcement source told Interfax.
"Their activities had nothing to do with the university. The media variation that the organization participants detained virtually had a nest in dormitory are made up in pursuit of sensation," the source said.
On June 23 following a series of searches in St. Petersburg people, suspected of organizing activities of the Hizb ut-Tahrir international terrorist organization, were detained.
Six suspects were placed under arrest upon investigators' request.
The Hizb ut-Tahrir organization was recognized as a terrorist one by the ruling of the Russian Supreme Court of February 14, 2003 and is banned in Russia.
According to some mass media reports, the individuals detained in St. Petersburg were plotting a terrorist attack and connection between the Hizb ut-Tahrir cell and the St. Petersburg Marine Technical University was reported.