MOSCOW, January 9 (RAPSI) – Federal investigators suspect that Shakhid Temirbulatov, a resident of the Russian Republic of Chechnya, participated in armed conflict in Syria, the local prosecutor’s office reported on Thursday.

“In July 2013, a Russian Federation citizen, joined an armed group in Syria and is presently participating in warfare against the Syrian government’s forces,” the statement reads.

This not the first time that police in the North Caucasus have suspected locals of aiding Syrian rebels. In December 2013, two residents of Dagestan were detained on suspicion of having participated in the Syrian conflict.

The same month, the sovereign republic of Tajikistan’s supreme court sentenced five students to two years each in prison for participating in armed conflict in Syria. The first reports of Tajik citizens fighting in Syria surfaced in May 2013. Three Tajikistan nationals were allegedly killed in the conflict.

More than 100,000 people have been killed and 9 million people displaced since fighting broke out in Syria in 2011, according to the United Nations.