5 persons detained as suspects in blast case already (Video)

The law-enforcing agencies of Belarus have detained 5 suspects in the criminal case related to the terrorist attack in Minsk metro.

It has been stated at the press-conference in Minsk by deputy Porsecutor General of Belarus Andrei Shved, Interfax-Zapad reports.

“We have detained 5 suspects, taking in custody has been chosen as the measure of restraint for 2 of them,” he said.

The law-enforcing agencies have also found the place where the bomb detonated in Minsk metro on Monday had been made. “The place where explosives were manufactured and the bomb had been made, is located. But I cannot say safe it was a radio-controlled explosive device,” Shved said.

The Prosecutor-General’s Office has also demonstrated video footage of the person suspected in committing the terrorist act in Minsk metro.

In particular, as the materials were commented by the deputy Prosecutor General, it is seen at the video that “the suspect found a spot from which he had been observing the scene before the incident.”

“He had been waiting for a few minutes,” Shved said, adding that he had been waiting for a train to arrive, so that maximum quantity of passengers would gather on the platform.

As said by him, it was recorded that the suspect was carrying a bag, going downstairs from the subway crossing connecting the two lines of Minsk metro to Kastrychnitskaya (Oktyabrskaya) station. Shved underlined that the video had been made a few minutes before the blast. It is seen on the video that there were lots of people in the rush hour. Besides, as the deputy Prosecutor General continued, the video footage shows that the terrorist was on the platform waiting for some time, and then “comes near the place where he placed the explosive device, makes movements to plant it, not far from or under the bench – which is being checked by experts now.”

Shved added that a camera detected the terrorist going up to the pedestrian underpass. He didn’t have the bag at that moment.

He underlined that the performer of the terrorist act was seen in video and photos after the explosion. “A camera clearly recorded the face of this person. He was also recorded by a camera in Minsk when he was leaving the site of crime,” Shved said. The Deputy Prosecutor General added that “his whole route was defined”.

Shved also noted that sanity or insanity of the Minsk bomber was a secret of investigation. The Deputy Prosecutor General said the suspect of the Minsk metro terrorist attack was directly involved in unsolved blasts in September 2005 and July 2008 in Minsk.

“We have firm evidence that the explosive devices used in Vitsebsk in 2005, those exploded and unexploded in Minsk on July 3, 2008, and that detonated in Minsk metro on April 11, 2011, were made by the same person,” Shved said.

According to him, investigators have information that the explosive device was taken to Minsk from another place. “The bomb was made outside Minsk,” the Deputy Prosecutor General said.

He also said that “Russian bomb technicians and our specialists are working on the site. Now they are examining the material evidence. He didn’t rule out that other experts could be involved besides Russian and Israeli specialists.

Answering a question regarding the nature of the explosive device, Maksim Varonin, the deputy head of investigative department at the General Prosecutor’s Office, said, “Expert evaluations have been ordered, but I’d like to refrain from giving comments.”

He added that the explosion site had been examined many times, also by foreign specialists.

“Close attention was paid to examining the damaged train. It took several days. All these actions were done scrupulously in order to collect as much evidence as possible and to clearly understand parameters of the explosive device,” Varonin emphasized.

The terrorists are citizens of Belarus under 30 years old without previous convictions.

Andrei Shved specified that the perpetrator of the terrorist attack and a person who assisted him were under custody. “We have a clear image of this person’s face from a CCTV camera (at the metro exit – Interfax),” the Deputy Prosecutor General noted.