The fourth alleged Crocus City Hall attackers, Muhammadsobir Fayzov, 19, Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32, Saidakrami Rachabalizodu, 30, and Shamsidin Fariduni, 25–all Tajikistani citizens–have been detained until May 22, Moscow’s Basmanny Court has ordered, as reported by News Agency TASS early Monday.
Eleven perpetrators in the terrorist assault have been captured, including four hitmen who attempted to sneak towards the Ukrainian border, reported Russia’s Agency TASS early Monday.
On Friday evening, a terror assault happened at the Crocus City Hall music venue in Moscow, killing 137 people and injuring 180 others, while more than 5,000 people had been evacuated from the building safely.
The judicial proceedings were held behind closed doors. Fayzov was allegedly filming the music hall attack.
Mirzoyev, Rachabalizoda, and Fariduni appeared in court with extensive bruises, including swollen faces, while Faizov was wheeled in from the hospital and sat with his eyes closed the whole time.
Aside from that, the press service reported that “four combat gear sets, more than 500 cartridges and 28 mags, and two Kalashnikov guns belonging to the attackers were retrieved from the site of the tragedy.” A Makarov handgun and a Kalashnikov mag were confiscated from suspects captured in a Renault automobile in the Bryansk Region,” 400 km southwest of Moscow.
Fayzov confessed that he was promised a reward of 500,000 rubles ($5,400). Half the money had been transferred to his card, while he had been promised he would receive the other half later. He lost the card while trying to escape from law enforcement officers.
The four men received stay documents in Russia at the airport directly from unknown persons, said Russian media.
President Vladimir Putin stated in a televised address that, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side has been building ‘a breach’ at the border for terrorists to cross.
He promised to find and hold accountable all those responsible for the attack on Crocus City Hall, and declared Sunday a national day of mourning.
The perpetrators’ mode of action indicates that they have nothing to do with ISIS, Grigory Lukyanov, a researcher at the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has told TASS.
“The fact that the participants in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall tried to escape from the crime scene and confessed to all they had done….., indicates that they were used, that they were hired mercenaries rather than ideological supporters of the Islamic State,” he added.
The expert stated that the terrorist group Islamic State has for many years been functioning “as a franchise, on behalf of which terrorist acts are committed, funds are raised, and information resources are built up.”
A U.S. intelligence official told CBS News that the U.S. has intelligence proving that ISIS was involved, and there is no reason to reject their allegations.
The U.S. Embassy in Russia has previously recommended that Americans avoid concert venues due to the risk of a terrorist attack. The U.S. intelligence official acknowledged to CBS News that the U.S. sent intelligence to Russia about the possibility of an attack, in accordance with the intelligence community’s Duty to Warn.