VORONEZH. April 8 (Interfax-AVN) - The Voronezh security services and police have prevented a terrorist attack.
The details of a plan to detain and expose Chechen rebel Hanpashi Israilov, who planned to blow up a cultural center in the city, were disclosed by an officer at the Voronezh regional security department.
Israilov arrived in Voronezh on November 2, 2002, said Pavel Bolshunov, the spokesman for the Voronezh Regional Security Department. "He was detained at the municipal bus terminal and taken to a police station for identification. The security services established that Israilov deserved their careful attention," Bolshunov told Interfax on Tuesday.
During questioning, Israilov confessed that he had planned to blow up a public or cultural center during rush hour. He also said that the most likely scene for the terrorist attack was a movie theater or the market place near the Voronezh-Kursky train station, Bolshunov continued.
In Voronezh, where he arrived in a Makhachkala-Moscow train, he was supposed to meet in an agreed place with three Wahhabis (an Arab and two Chechens) who were to supply him with explosives, instructions and other necessary information.
His next moves were to familiarize himself with the city, rent an apartment, develop a plan for the terrorist attack and wait for further instructions.
Israilov's chiefs, who stood behind the plot, had drawn up a plan for his evacuation, including the exact route, and prepared things he might need on his way back, such as money to bribe policemen should they catch him or decide to check his passport, Bolshunov said.
Security services established that Israilov was a sniper who had undergone military and subversive training under the supervision of Arab, Afghan and Turkish instructors at a Chechen rebel camp outside the village of Zandak. He specialized in explosives and recruiting operations.
Security services also found out that Israilov was involved in kidnapping General Shpigun and in selling Russian POWs. He also fought in Dagestan's Novolakskoye district outside the villages of Kara-Makhi and Chaban-Makhi in September 1999.
Israilov said he was ordered to carry out a terrorist attack by Dzhabrail Abdulazimov, the leader of the so-called Saratov group. Later, Abdulazimov was detained. He admitted that he had been staging attacks per orders from field commander Ruslan Chitigov.
Israilov was transferred to a detention facility in Makhachkala, where he was charged with participation in an illegal armed group, and the illegal acquisition, sale, possession and transportation of weapons, explosives and ammunition.