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Russians admit boomer babe blunder
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." 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. Posted by: Dan Darling 2004-09-17 |
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