| Russian security forces were facing further criticism
last night after it
was revealed that the two female Chechen suicide bombers who destroyed
two
planes in August with the loss of 90 lives had been detained and released
hours beforehand.
Officials have already disclosed that the women bribed a ticket tout
to
squeeze them on to the planes at the last minute, evading security and
identity checks.
The ticket tout, who has since been arrested, bribed airport officials
with
?20 (1,000 roubles) to get the two women seats.
Vladimir Ustinov, Russia's general prosecutor, said the two "black
widows"
had arrived on a flight from southern Russia that evening and had, along
with two Chechen men, immediately aroused suspicions.
"Police officers confiscated their passports and handed them to
a police
captain responsible for anti-terrorism operations to examine their
belongings," Mr Ustinov said.
"The captain let them go without any check and they started to
try to obtain
tickets in the same buildings," he added.
Russia's media have already raised the spectre of negligence and the
FSB
security service has told the public that it believes two other black
widows
are still on the loose in Moscow.
Shamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord allegedly responsible for the Beslan
massacre, is said to have trained a brigade of at least 20 black widows
but
officials admit there could be far more.
Fresh details of the Beslan tragedy continued to seep out yesterday
as
senior Russian deputies said the country would consider reintroducing
the
death penalty for terrorism. Russian media reported that the hostage-takers
were apparently promised up to $300 (?160) each for their participation
in
the siege and many did not know that children would be involved.
According to some reports the plan had been to blow up the school gymnasium
killing all the hostages on the night of Friday 3 September. The terrorists
hoped they would be able to escape in the ensuing mayhem.
Law enforcement sources said some of the hostage-takers had been listening
to a hard-rock group called Rammstein during the 10-hour gun battle and
had
been observing their attackers' movements on eight CCTV cameras they had
rigged up.
Most of the weaponry they used had been stolen from the Russian authorities
during a cross-border raid into Ingushetia from Chechnya in June. Up to
90
people died in that raid.
President Vladimir Putin said yesterday there was no way he would negotiate
with terrorists. "There is only one way to deal with these people:
with
legality and toughness," he said. Although America and the EU have
criticised Mr Putin for introducing anti-terror reforms that they believe
would dilute democracy, Russia's first post-Soviet president, Boris Yeltsin,
said he believed the constitution would be respected.
Mr Putin was criticised by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation
in
Europe, which accused the authorities of impeding the work of journalists
during the Beslan siege and of misinforming the public.
Russia's liberal Yabloko party held a noisy rally in Moscow yesterday
protesting against the proposed reforms.
See also:
Act
of Terror in Beslan
| 