Top Daghestani Official Arrested On Kidnapping Charge

The deputy minister of industry and energy in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Daghestan has been arrested for alleged involvement in a kidnapping.

The Daghestani Prosecutor-General's Office said on September 17 that Ruslan Gadzhibekov and two associates were arrested last weekend and charged with abducting a teenager in July.

The kidnapped boy was freed last week after the abductors received a 45 million ruble ($1,040,000) ransom.

Gadzhibekov is the brother of a senior investigator with Russia's Investigative Committee in Daghestan, Arsen Gadzhibekov, who was killed in 2011.

Said Amirov, the former mayor of Daghestan's capital, Makhachkala, is currently under arrest for alleged involvement in Arsen Gadzhibekov's killing.

Daghestan has been plagued with violence linked to organized crime and Islamic extremism for years.

With reporting by "Kommersant" and Interfax