Moscow, July 15 (RFE/RL) -- Interfax news agency says Moscow police have detained some 6,000 people in the Russian capital in a security sweep following last week's bombings.
The agency quotes Moscow's Interior Affairs Department as saying those detained did not have the required residence permits.
Police began a crackdown on illegal residents in Moscow after a bomb blast on a trolley bus Friday injured 28 people, eight seriously. The bombing followed a similar blast which injured five people on Thursday.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said after the blasts that President Boris Yeltsin had instructed him to "clean up" the city in a drive against crime. Despite a Soviet-era law requiring Muscovites to have residence permits, thousands of people have settled in the city illegally since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Police said they had also received 164 warnings from members of the public about suspicious packages after authorities called for extra vigilance after the bombings. In one of the reported cases, Interfax says police mistook a bricklayer's tool for a bomb on a trolley bus.
The agency quotes Moscow's Interior Affairs Department as saying those detained did not have the required residence permits.
Police began a crackdown on illegal residents in Moscow after a bomb blast on a trolley bus Friday injured 28 people, eight seriously. The bombing followed a similar blast which injured five people on Thursday.
Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov said after the blasts that President Boris Yeltsin had instructed him to "clean up" the city in a drive against crime. Despite a Soviet-era law requiring Muscovites to have residence permits, thousands of people have settled in the city illegally since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Police said they had also received 164 warnings from members of the public about suspicious packages after authorities called for extra vigilance after the bombings. In one of the reported cases, Interfax says police mistook a bricklayer's tool for a bomb on a trolley bus.