MOSCOW. Nov 9 (Interfax-AVN) - Sixty-four residents of Chechnya were kidnapped or went missing in Chechnya in September and October, 2004, Rudnik Dudayev, secretary of the Chechen Security Council, told Interfax by telephone on Tuesday.
"Thirty residents were kidnapped in September and 34 in October. Most of the kidnappings were organized by criminal groups," Dudayev said.
He said the Chechen authorities are doing everything possible to prevent kidnappings.
"Chechen President Alu Alkhanov has instructed the Chechen Security Council to work out measures to deal with this problem jointly with the law enforcement agencies," he said.
He pointed out that Chechen law enforcers have been refraining from wearing masks while conducting sweep operations.