State Secretary of Kazakhstan: Intelligence agencies are investigating the involvement of foreign personnel in the January riots

Source: CCTV news client

On the 19th local time, Kalin, the state secretary of Kazakhstan, said that the country's intelligence agencies are investigating the clues of foreigners' participation in the January riots.

According to the information available, after December 20, 2021, a group of foreign citizens arrived in Kazakhstan at the same time; subsequently, they tried to leave Kazakhstan by different routes from January 7 to 8. However, he did not disclose the number of foreign citizens.

Kalin noted that intelligence agencies already have evidence of the involvement of some domestic extremist militant groups in the January incident and attempts to use terrorists from outside the country to launch terrorist attacks against Kazakhstan. The current situation is very serious, and intelligence agencies are working to identify these people and to arrest and collect their weapons. More than 2,000 weapons have been seized by law enforcement agencies in recent days.

Kalin also stressed that although the state of emergency has been lifted throughout Kazakhstan since 00:00 on the 19th, counter-terrorism operations are still continuing in several areas. (Reporters Cao Shengji and Wang Delu)