DUSHANBE, May 24, 2016, Asia-Plus — Russian authorities have arrested two Tajiks suspected of recruiting fighters for the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group in Syria, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reported on May 23.
The Investigative Committee”s directorate in St. Petersburg said on May 23 that a local court had sent the suspects to pretrial detention for two months.
The two men were detained last week after police found religious literature and other materials that the suspects allegedly used to recruit fighters for the IS group.
In recent months, several men and women have been detained or jailed in Russia and former Soviet republics in the Caucasus and Central Asia for recruiting militants for Islamist groups operating in the Middle East.
Russian officials have said at least 5,000 Russians and citizens of other former Soviet republics have traveled to Syria and Iraq to join the IS group there.
