MOSCOW, February 26 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow's organized crime bureau said they averted a terrorist attack in Moscow February 22 when they arrested a man with an explosive device at a bus stop in the northwest of the city.
Investigators said the arrested man, Farid Magomedov, 29, from Daghestan, a Russian republic in the North Caucasus neighboring Chechnya, was responsible for the production of explosives used in terrorist attacks in the republic.
The bureau said Magomedov intended to use the handmade explosive device, containing 500 grams of TNT equivalent, "to perpetrate a terrorist attack on policemen in Moscow."
Magomedov made at least nine explosive devices in Daghestan and was an active member of the Shariat gang, responsible for dozens of terrorist acts in the North Caucasus, including the murder of a Daghestani minister and an attack that left 10 servicemen dead and 26 wounded.
Magomedov is supposed "to be personally involved in at least three Shariat attacks in the North Caucasus," the bureau said.
The bureau also said Magomedov underwent special training in Turkey, Syria and a number of Arab countries, and that he maintained close links with al-Qaeda members.
In 2006, he arrived in Moscow following the arrest of Shariat leader Ruslan Abdullayev in order to form his own terrorist gang.
