It’s Kavkaz, you know the drill ...
Shariah news agency reported referring to an anonymous source at the Ingushetian department of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB) that the Command of Islamic Brigade of Shaheeds (martyrs) ’Riyadus Salihiin’ (means ’Gardens for the Righteous’) has issued an ultimatum demanding large sums of money from the heads of many invaders’ and puppet power structures, as well as from various invaders’ departments of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria and ministries of the Republic of Ingushetia. This has been reported by the Voice of Jihad newspaper (issue No. 46), which is published underground on the occupied territories of Ichkeria.
| That's unsual. Banditti normally don't publicly admit to shakedowns... |
«There is nothing secret about it, because the entire Chechnya and Ingushetia is talking about it. The secret services know perfectly well that many of these leaders have been paying ransoms in the hope that they won’t be touched", the paper says, quoting an anonymous source. An unnamed informant of the newspaper from the FSB even made a joke about it. «Most likely, the fact of the matter is that after Basayev’s accounts were frozen in the US, his team was desperate for funds, and Basayev’s organization decided to impose a tax on our chiefs».
| "Is very fonny joke in Russian, heh heh!" |
The newspaper says that, in Ingushetia alone a whole number of leaders in the republic are paying their ransoms. Those who refuse face serious problems, including threats on their lives. For example, one of the chiefs of an Ingushetian police precincts, from whom 10,000 US dollars were demanded, was bombed twice. Then the bombings stopped. According to the newspaper, the defiant chief forked out the required amount. And now he can move around the republic easily and virtually with no bodyguards.
| The old "life insurance" racket... |
There was another well-known case in Ingushetia when the chief of the so-called Department 6 (Internal Affairs Department) of the Ingushetian Police was obliged to pay a sum of $100,000 dollars. To make it more convincing his house was blown up when no one was inside. Then the harassment ceased. A rumor spread all across Ingushetia that local communities (’Jamaats’) had apparently interceded for him. However, it later transpired that the bullying stopped because he had paid the required amount.
I wonder where he skimmed raised it? |
Voice of Jihad reported that some time ago Brigade of Shaheeds ’Riyadus Salihiin’ had pressurized the Ingushetian department of the FSB into paying a cash sum of $ 300,000 dollars. However, the chief of the FSB department rejected the demand to pay compensation for his criminal activities, after which the Mujahideen started really haunting him down. In this regard the newspaper also reminds that after what happened in Magas (explosion at FSB headquarters), a representative of Riyadus Salihiin issued a statement which pointed out that the landmines, which were discovered last summer on the route of movement of Ingushetian (pro-Moscow) President Murat Zyazikov (also a KGB/FSB operative), had in fact been meant for the chief of the Ingushetian FSB department, and that the explosion near the FSB building in Magas was a ’warning’. The fact that the landmines had not been meant for Zyazikov was confirmed later in the statement by the Commander of Brigade of Shaheeds (martyrs), Abdallah Shamil [Basayev], who pointed out that the explosive device was not even ready for use, since the Brigade’s special operations department had been told that the FSB chief of the Republic of Ichkeria had gone on leave.
| I'm sure this is all very inspiring, maybe even hilarious, in Chechen. Or Arabic... |
In his interview to Shariah news agency, Commander Abdallah Shamil said the following: «These mines had been set up by the Mujahideen from a Special Task Force Unit of the ’Riyadus Salihiin’ Brigade or Shaheeds. They were meant for the head of the FSB chief of Ingushetia, who lived next door to the place to where the mines were planted. He went on leave and we placed these mines there for future use, but they were not ready for use and were not meant for Zyazikov, although he deserves it, because, by allowing the atrocities which are happening in Ingushetia today, he thus becomes a participant in the genocide against the Chechen people and is guilty of aggravating the situation in the Republic of Ingushetia». An anonymous source from the Voice of Jihad newspaper told that, according to the information available, ransoms are being paid to the Mujahideen by the leaders of the highest echelons of power in Ingushetia and by the invaders’ departments of Chechnya, as well as by a number of high-ranking chiefs of the so-called power structures of the Republic of Ingushetia and puppet structures of Chechen Republic of Ichkeria (CRI).
| To me, it paints a picture of one corrupt system in juxtaposition with another corrupt system. |
«Our command have told us that there is evidence that at one of its recent meetings the command of the militants adopted a decision to change strategy and instead of destroying military equipment they would carry out blasts against those who refuse to pay», the newspaper was told by a source from the FSB department in Ingushetia.
| In other words, return to pure banditry... |
The source did not say whether the $300,000 demanded from the Ingushetian FSB chief and sums from other Ingushetian structures were a one-off payment or the Riyadus Salihiin Brigade was demanding regular payments. The newspaper says that within the next few days the editors are going to ask for an explanation on this question from the Commander of the Brigade of Shaheeds Riyadus Salihiin, Abdallah Shamil. Shariah news agency in turn reported that on 5 December in the office of Ingushetian FSB chief in Magas two rockets exploded one after the other. The rockets were launched from a ’Bassoon’ rocket launcher (Russian name ’Fagot’, which actually means ’Bassoon’) from the direction of the village of Ali-Yurt. It occurred three minutes after the FSB chief had left his office. The agency points out that the Riyadus Salihiin report about the places of stay and movements of the Ingushetian FSB chief show that there has been a leak of information at a fairly high level in the Ingushetian FSB department.
| Kind of like in Perv's office in Pakland... |
The agency reports that so far it is not clear whether the Mujahideen intended to physically remove the FSB chief, or these two shots were just another warning for him. But after this episode the Ingushetian FSB department moved down to the basement. But on the upper floors there is now urgent reconstruction work going on in order to keep the hostages and prisoners-of-war there, who are now being moved out of the basements. |