Operation against militants in Ingushetia was prepared secretly from local law enforcers

The fact that a large-scale special operation against militants, which was held on March 28, was being prepared in the Sunzha District of Ingushetia, was a secret for local law enforcers. According to relatives of the brothers Ilez and Islam Yandiev, detained during the operation, power agents planted ammunition, when they searched their house. According to law enforcers, the arrested brothers were not only involved in the explosion at the "Domodedovo" Airport, but were also preparing a new terror act.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by a source close to power agencies of Ingushetia, a few days before the operation the republic's leadership addressed relatives of those who were still in the forest with a request to surrender. "The head of Ingushetia had made such appeals before; therefore, this time the address did not attract any special attention," said the source. "Later, when the operation was on, we learnt that at the end of last week special units of the Russian FSB, Interior Troops of the MIA and officials of the Chief Investigatory Department for the North-Caucasian Federal District arrived in Ingushetia."

According to the source, there was no shooting in Nazran and Magas; and people learnt from TV news that a full-scale operation aimed to liquidate militants was underway in the republic.

However, according to the teacher Movlatkhan Malsagova, mother of Ilez and Islam Yandiev, the special operation in Nazran began early in the morning. "It was not yet six in the morning, when there was some rumble near our house; and the order was announced over the loudspeaker: 'Everybody shall leave the house with hands up and with passports!' My eldest son Ilez jumped into the yard barefoot to see what was happening, but he was immediately caught and pushed into a car," Ms Malsagova told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"They ordered me to open the doors of all the cars and pick up the mats; they checked all the luggage compartments, and lifted the spare wheels. Two fighters acted as witnesses: they were all the time close to the search and after every inspection these guys confirmed that nothing was found," said the woman and added that the checks were thorough.

"Well before the search I asked where all the militaries were from; I was told that it was none of my business: 'if necessary, we'll introduce ourselves.' I also asked if there were power agents from our MIA among the militaries; they said no. At that time people were walking down the street past our house; I asked to let someone from the neighbours to be witnesses. They didn't allow," said the woman.

"Then a military, one of those who were without masks, asked: 'Have you checked everything properly? Have you examined the armchair and a sofa? Those who were appointed as witnesses answered that they had checked everything and found nothing," Movlatkhan continued her story. "Then he said: 'Now, I'll check.' He went to the sofa, lifted it and took some black pack from inside. He unfolded it and said: 'Grenades were in the sofa'."

"After they finished the search in the house, their boss said: 'Now, we'll inspect the cars.' I said what the reason was - everything had been already examined. He said that he would look properly and in the presence of the car owner; he went to the Mercedes," said Malsagova. "The military called my husband, came up to the Mercedes with him and found a grenade under the mat of the driver's seat."

The search lasted for about six hours. "Khava, the wife of my elder son, stood all this time in the yard with a five-month-old son in her arms," said Movlatkhan. "The baby started crying from hunger; we asked for permission to enter the house and take a bottle with mixture for the baby. But we were never allowed."

At 2:00 p.m. on October 28 the search was over; and the militaries left the house of the Yandievs, taking Ilez and Islam - sons of Movlatkhan and Bekkhan - with them.

"All the mass media published the information that brothers were involved in the terror act committed on January 24 this year at the 'Domodedovo' Airport, where 37 persons were killed. Allegedly, the accomplices of the terrorist Magomed Evloev, arrested earlier, evidenced that Yandiev brothers had brought the suicide bomber to Moscow," Aza Yandieva, advocate for the detainees, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent. "Officials from the NAC (National Antiterrorist Committee) said that the brothers were on the wanted list."

"If this is really true, then why hadn't law enforcers detained them earlier, as soon as they received this information? Indeed, following the logic, these guys, while being wanted, firstly, could escape, and, secondly, could commit another offence. What were they waiting for?"

According to Aza Yandieva, now Ilez and Islam are kept in Vladikavkaz. "I'm their advocate, but they don't let me to see them. I reserve the right to complain. A telegram on illegal actions of the law enforcers who conducted the search was sent to Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigatory Committee of the Russian Federation by the detainees' mother - Movlatkhan Malsagova," said the lawyer.

She added that "all the media tell us that these guys were shadowed by the intelligence; and their contacts were established. If this is true, then why had the same militaries first mixed up the address and broke into the house of Aza Bekova, and turned everything upside down there? And when they realized that they were wrong, they left that household without any apologies."

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Amirkhan Khakiev, head of the press service of the head of the Republic of Ingushetia, only the NAC possessed data about involvement of Yandiev brothers in the terror act committed at the "Domodedovo" Airport by suicide bomber Magomed Evloev. A source from the Ingush MIA, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that should the staff of his MIA have known about the upcoming operation, a leak of information was quite possible. "Such things had already happened," he said.

As reported by the NAC, during searches at Yandievs' residences, a charged belt of a suicide bomber and two self-made explosive devices were detected. The detention of the brothers and detection of explosive devices on them allow concluding that they had been preparing a terror act, the NAC has claimed.