SBU detains minor from Odesa on suspicion of preparing terrorist attack in Kharkiv

SBU counterintelligence officers and police detained a 16-year-old Odesa resident on suspicion of preparing a terrorist attack in Kharkiv on the order of the Russian special service.

This was reported by the SBU press service.

According to the investigation, the 16-year-old boy was assembling an improvised explosive device (IED) with his own hands, which he was supposed to plant in an apartment in a high-rise building. Then he allegedly planned to call the police to the scene of the planned terrorist attack and blow up the patrol officers.

SBU officers detained the guy in a hotel room, where he was completing the production of the IED. According to the case file, the Russian group recruited an underage Odesa resident when he was looking for easy money on the Telegram channel.

In exchange for the promise of quick part-time work, he arrived in Kharkiv, where he received the coordinates of a cache from a Russian handler, from which he received four kilograms of explosives, a mobile phone and other components for an IED. The agent then took the package to a hotel room to assemble the improvised bomb according to instructions from a Russian intelligence officer.

When ready, the guy was to receive the location of the apartment and the keys from the Russian GRU to install an IED and a cell phone with remote access for the racists. During the searches, a homemade bomb and a smartphone with evidence of working for the enemy were seized from the detainee. He was served a notice of suspicion of preparing for a terrorist act committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy. The offender faces up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property.

Earlier in Odesa, at the request of the prosecutor's office, the court imposed a preventive measure on a man suspected of preparing and carrying out a terrorist attack. He was taken into custody without the right to be released on bail. During the search, evidence of his connection with the enemy was found - correspondence and instructions for making an improvised explosive device. The perpetrator was promised USD 5,000 for completing this task, of which he has already received USD 1,000 on his bank card.

Кирило Бойко