Suspect in murder of Russian police officers detained in Chechnya

CHECHNYA, 16 October, Caucasus Times: A member of illegal armed formations suspected of killing five members of special purpose police detachment and an officer of the security service of the Chechen president [Alu Alkhanov], was detained in a special operation in Groznyy over the last 24 hours, the law-enforcement agencies of the republic have said.

Detained Rustam Toypov [in other sources given as Taipov] participated in an attack on a police UAZ jeep on 21 September, as a result of which five members of the Sverdlovsk OMON [special purpose police detachment] were killed, and also in the killing of an officer of a special purpose unit of the Russian Interior Ministry’s main department for the Federal Southern District, who was a member of the Chechen presidential guard.

The detainee showed a cache from which two Kalashnikov assault rifles, grenades and number plates were seized.

The president of Chechnya, Alu Alkhanov, personally oversaw the investigation into the killing of the military.