ST. PETERSBURG, May 18 (RAPSI, Mikhail Telekhov) – Anton Kobets suspected of involvement in plotting a terrorist attack in the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg has been put in detention until February 14, the St. Petersburg courts’ press office has told RAPSI.

Investigators claim that Kobets helped another suspect Yevgeny Efimov, who had been arrested and detained earlier, in studying the terrain for choosing a site of a planned explosion, and gave advices on committing the attack.

Moreover, three other men allegedly linked to Kobets and Efimov and suspected of illegal trafficking in weapons and explosives have been placed in detention until mid-February.

According to the Federal Security Service (FSB), seven members of the Islamic State terrorist organization (ISIS) banned in Russia were arrested on December 14. They allegedly planned to commit a terrorist attack with the participation of a suicide bomber in one of the monumental cathedral’s in St. Petersburg on December 16.

Law enforcement officers believe that the alleged terrorists were controlled by the ISIS leaders from abroad via Telegram messenger.

Weapons, explosives, and extremist literature have been seized during searches at their premises. Moreover, a laboratory for preparing explosive bombs has been liquidated.