RIA IS AN OFFICIAL RUSSIAN NEWS SERVICE FIVE POLES' INDISCRETION AND "ILL-JUDGED ACTIONS" CONTRIBUTED TO THEIR KIDNAPPING, BELIEVE CHECHEN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS

By RIA Novosti correspondent Kometa Tepsayeva

GROZNY, DECEMBER 24, RIA NOVOSTI - Magomed Magomadov, chief of the special presidential anti-kidnapping squad, is of the view that five Polish citizens have been kidnapped "with a view to getting a ransom".

But he did not rule out that "certain forces have used criminal elements in their political interests for the aim of discrediting authorities and isolating Chechnya".

In a Novosti interview, Magomadov said that a preliminary version believes the kidnappers to belong to one of the Grozny criminal syndicates.

He was doubtful that they may have been involved in other widely reported kidnappings, for example, of journalists and foreigners.

According to him, "an investigation revealed some details pointing to an entirely new 'pattern' of the crime."

Magomadov noted that the route chosen by the Poles to reach Grozny, which passed through a crime-infested district, rather than along the central highway, is causing a host of questions.

The squad leader expressed puzzlement over the fact that "aware of a real threat to their security, foreign nationals arriving in Chechnya fail to notify the republic's law enforcement bodies".

"So-called 'bodyguards', who supposedly accompanied the Poles, were staff members of none of the law enforcement bodies", which, in Magomadov's view, went some way towards provoking the crime.

At the same time, the Chechen presidential administration described as "untrue" some media reports that the Polish ambassador in Russia may come to Chechnya, adding that "all the necessary information was given to the ambassador today by Vakha Arsanov, a representative of Ichkeria in Russia".