MIA: case against "Novosibirsk Jamaat" grouping associated with Caucasian militants sent to court

The case against ten persons, accused of involvement in the illegal armed formation (IAF) "Novosibirsk Jamaat", banditries and robberies, sent to the Novosibirsk Regional Court. This was reported by the Chief Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) in the Novosibirsk Region. They sent more than half of the stolen money to finance militants in the Northern Caucasus. This was reported by Vyacheslav Pevnev, Deputy Chief of the MIA's Department.

Law enforcers do not rule out that the grouping may be led by Anzor Kunashev, a native of Kabardino-Balkaria, who was put on the international wanted list.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in March 2012, the Russian National Antiterrorist Committee (NAC) reported on "stopping the activity of the criminal grouping that financed Caucasian militants." The NAC has reported that the grouping consisting of persons of Russian nationality, who recently converted to radical Islam, is engaged in armed robberies in Novosibirsk and sends the stolen money to the IAFs of Dagestan and the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (KBR).

According to investigators, the "Novosibirsk Jamaat" was organized by a native of Kabardino-Balkaria, who arrived in the Novosibirsk Region in August 2011. He planned to "establish an independent Sharia state, based solely on the rules and laws of the radical movement of Islam."

Novosibirsk Muslims do not believe that the organization was of religious nature and that it financed militants of the Northern Caucasus. They argue that there are only two mosques in the city and that the persons who profess Islam know each other in person.