NUR-SULTAN. Dec 13 (Interfax) - The Kazakh National Security Committee has prevented two terror attacks plotted in Almaty and one in the Karaganda region this year, the first deputy chief of the national headquarters of the Kazakh National Security Committee's Antiterrorism Center, Sergei Shveikin, said at a press conference in Nur-Sultan on Thursday.
"This year, agencies of the National Security Committee thwarted three attempts to carry out terror attacks in the early stages of preparations. Two of them were plotted by radicals in Almaty and another one in the Karaganda region," Shveikin said.
"The criminal activities of seven radical groups and 34 people in different regions of the country have been dismantled this year," he said.
All people involved in plotting these terror attacks were convicted and given sentences ranging from six to 18 years in prison.
"Some of their organizers and perpetrators fell under the influence of [...] militants from international terrorist organizations. Others became radicalized on their own by reading terrorist and extremist materials online," Shveikin said.
Firearms, non-lethal weapons, and bomb components were seized from them, he said.
"They plotted attacks on the headquarters of law enforcement agencies, large shopping malls, religious buildings, and financial institutions. They also planned to abduct a hostage," Shveikin said.