MOSCOW (TASS) — Four members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir international terrorist group (outlawed in Russia) who have been detained in Crimea, actively sought to recruit Crimean Muslims and spread terrorist ideas, Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said in a statement.

According to the statement, the FSB, the Interior Ministry and the National Guard in Crimea conducted an operation to expose a Hizb ut-Tahrir cell, detaining its four active members.

The FSB pointed out that Russia’s Supreme Court had outlawed the organization in 2003. “Investigators found out that the terrorist group’s members had carried out activities violating the Russian Constitution, based on the idea of creating the so-called global Caliphate, destroying secular public institutions and overthrowing the current government by force”, the statement reads. “They secretly spread terrorist ideas among Crimeans and recruited Crimean Muslims”, the FSB added.

A large amount of banned Hizb ut-Tahrir propaganda materials, communication equipment and digital storage devices were seized during searches of their homes.

Criminal cases have been opened against the detained, the FSB said.