Russian and Abkhaz security services claim to have uncovered a terror plot targeting the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, the Russian National Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) reported on Thursday.
Three men suspected of being ringleaders in a regional cell of the North Caucasus-based terrorist group Caucasus Emirate (Imarat Kavkaz) were arrested in Abkhazia on May 4-5 on suspicion of plotting an attack, NAK said.
Police also seized their weapons arsenal, which included three man-portable surface-to-air missiles, two anti-tank guided rockets, a mortar, a flamethrower and other weaponry.
“Russia’s FSB revealed that the militants planned to transfer the arms to Sochi in 2012-2014 and use them to carry out terrorist attacks during the Olympics,” NAK said in a statement.
NAK said Doku Umarov, the head of the Caucasus Emirate, maintains close links with Georgian security services.
Umarov coordinated the organization’s “entire activity in ensuring the delivery of the instruments of terrorism in close proximity to Sochi,” it said.
In late February, Russian and Ukrainian Security Services claimed they had uncovered a plot for a terrorist attack against then-Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Two men suspected of being behind the assassination plot, were arrested in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.
