"Maskhadov seeks to get in touch with the federal center to surrender. If he fails to do it, we will help him," said Ramzan Kadyrov, the first vice premier of the Chechen government, at a board of the Chechen republic's Interior Ministry.
In Mr. Kadyrov's words, the Chechen law enforcement bodies are still searching for Maskhadov and Shamil Basayev.
For the nine months of 2004, the Chechen Interior Ministry officers together with other law enforcers prevented 52 terrorist attacks and detained or killed 193 militants on republican territory.
RIA Novosti was told in the Chechen Interior Ministry press service that these figures were cited on Friday at a Ministry board.
"As a result of special operations, seized were 324 submachine guns, over 300 grenade launchers, over 425 kilograms of explosives and over 600 explosive devices," said the press service.
The board also noted that for the nine months, over 3,000 crimes were detected, while the overall crime detection rate was 69%.
The number of murders has decreased by 33%, the number of kidnaps, by 50%.
"184 cases have been registered this year, compared to 362 last year," said the Interior Ministry representative.
Chechen policemen also detained some 500 people on the wanted list suspected of committing different crimes.
Chechen President Alu Alkhanov, first Vice Premier Ramzan Kadyrov, Interior Minister Ruslan Alkhanov, and Commander of the Russian Interior Ministry operational group in the republic, Maj.-Gen. Vyacheslav Dadonov, attended the Interior Ministry board.
