MOSCOW (TASS) — Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained two ringleaders and seven members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir organization outlawed in Russia, who were involved in creating clandestine networks, the FSB said in a statement on Friday.

According to Russian FSB (ФСБ), the detained sought to secretly spread terrorist ideas among Muslims.
(© Russian Federal Security Service’s Centre for Public Relations)

According to the FSB, the detained sought to secretly spread terrorist ideas among Muslims. Propaganda materials related to Hizb ut-Tahrir, communication tools and digital data storage devices were seized from their homes.

In its statement, FSB declared:

The Federal Security Service, acting in coordination with the Interior Ministry and the National Guard, carried out a special operation in Moscow, the Tatarstan and Tyumen regions, shutting down the activities of two ringleaders and seven members of the Hizb ut-Tahrir al-Islami international terrorist organization,".

They worked purposefully to create the organization’s clandestine networks in Russia’s regions and resolved the issues of funding of its illegal activities.

The FSB claims that the evidence they collected proves that the organization’s members were involved in anti-constitutional activities aimed at creating the global caliphate, destroying secular public institutions and bringing down the current government through the use of force.