A criminal case has been initiated on the kidnapping of relatives of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, said the Regional Operative Staff for the North Counterterrorist Operation in the North Caucasus. According to the staff, on January 26 the regional police branch office got an application from Aslan Maskhadov brother's wife Kameta Maskhadova, residing in Pervomaiskoe, the Grozny district. "It says that on December 3, 2004 unidentified camouflaged persons with automatic weapons and speaking the Chechen language forcibly drove her husband Lema Maskhadov, 56, from his house in an unknown direction," the interviewee said.On the same day, at about 20:00, Moscow time, a group of 10 to 15 unidentified and camouflaged persons, also speaking Chechen and having automatic weapons, abducted Aslan's another brother, Lecha Maskhadov, 68, from house 16 on Sovkhoznaya street in Grozny, he went on to say. Then, at 11:20, Moscow time, on December 28, 2004, up to 15 unidentified camouflaged persons with automatic weapons and speaking the Chechen language forcibly drove in an unknown direction Aslan's nephew Movladi Maskhadov, 34, from a place near the Neftyanik market in Grozny. "On these facts, the Prosecutor's Office of Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district has initiated the criminal case. Investigation is underway to establish the location of the abducted persons and detain those involved in the crime," the Regional Operative Staff said.