KHANKALA. June 28 (Interfax-AVN) - Seven rebels have been detained in Chechnya over the past 24 hours, regional headquarters spokesman Colonel Ilya Shabalkin told Interfax on Monday.
A member of warlord Rizvan Chitigov's rebel gang was detained in the village of Avtury in the Shali district, Shabalkin said. A hand grenade was found on the rebel and seized from him.
A member of Kharayev's gang was arrested in Grozny. He is suspected of opening fire at a Ural truck owned by the riot police of the Tyumen region.
A powerful explosive device, which is estimated to contain the equivalent of six or seven kilograms of TNT, was confiscated from three residents of Dagestan. The bomb was found in their VAZ- 2107 car during a routine security check outside the village of Petropavlovskoye in the Grozny rural district. Chechen law- enforcers do not rule that the detainees wanted to commit a large- scale terrorist act in Chechnya by blowing the car and then to return to Dagestan.
Several caches were found in various Chechen districts and in the city of Grozny during Operation Whirlwind-Antiterror. The caches contained six Kalashnikov assault rifles and a Makarov pistol, Shabalkin said. One of the caches found in the Oktyabrsky district of Grozny was owned by emir (rebel leader) Gairbekov, who was killed during a federal operation on March 19.
The public relations group of the Federal Security Service department for Chechnya told Interfax-Military News Agency Interfax that the department personnel detained three suspected rebels and criminals last week. They destroyed four arms and ammo caches and a rebel base.