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2 Russians caught in Istanbul for murdering Chechen militant

Xinhua, April 13, 2016 Adjust font size:

Two alleged Russian spies have been arrested in Istanbul for their involvement in the killing of a Chechen militant, the Turkish daily Haberturk reported on Wednesday.

Iurii Anisimov, 52, and Aleksandr Smirnov, 55, who were blamed for the assassination of Chechen militant Abdulvakhid Edelgireyev in Istanbul in 2015, were captured in a joint operation by Turkey's National Intelligence Organization and the police on April 8, the daily said.

According to the report, the two Russians were doing intelligence work for another plot when they were netted with fake Interpol IDs, photos of some Russian officials, USB memory sticks, five cell phones with numbers and PIN/PUK information glued to them and U.S. dollars with consecutive serial numbers on them.

A preliminary checking of the USB sticks revealed that the duo were taking photos in several European countries for reconnaissance purposes, the report said.

Pictures of some parking lots, vehicle registration plates, surveillance cameras as well as hotel rooms and their dark corners were found on the USBs.

"It has been detected that the Russians chased the motions of surveillance cameras at a single location in a European country and recorded the camera positions hour by hour for a day," Haberturk reported, adding the police were trying to recapture the deleted data on the USBs.

Edelgireyev was shot and stabbed by attackers on a car on Nov. 1, 2015 in the Kayasehir district of Istanbul.

Haberturk said the two suspects reentered Turkey with fake passports and they arrived in Istanbul on April 4. Endit