Moscow’s Crocus Hall terror attack plotter in Pakistan?

The mastermind of the horrific terror attack at a concert hall in Moscow on March 22, 2024, that left around 150 civilians killed, is said to be in Pakistan, and as per media reports, Moscow may ask Islamabad to hand him over.
The accused, a Tajikistan native who allegedly slipped into Pakistan from Afghanistan, had masterminded the attack by four operatives and as per reports, may have been detained by the Pakistani authorities.

The terror attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow, Russia, was the worst such incident in the country for years, as gunmen stormed the complex and killed 145 people and left over 500 injured.

The victims had come to attend a concert by the rock group Picnic when four gunmen arrived and started shooting indiscriminately. The terrorists also set the concert hall’s premises on fire using a flammable liquid.
The Islamic State group (IS) later said that four of its members carried out the attack and later released highly graphic footage from the attack.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had announced that 11 people had been arrested, and four of them—Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda, Shamsidin Fariduni, and Muhammadsobir Fayzov—were presented in court. 
All four, hailing originally from Tajikistan, were charged with an act of terrorism and probably face life in prison.

The US said that Islamic State-Khorasan or ISIS-K, an offshoot that seeks to establish a Muslim caliphate across Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Iran, was behind the attack.

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Colin Clarke, a New York-based counterterrorism analyst, told the New York Times that IS-K had been ‘fixated’ on Russia for the past two years as it “accuses the Kremlin of having Muslim blood in its hands, referencing Moscow’s interventions in Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Syria”.

Meanwhile, Pakistani security forces had arrested high-profile operatives of IS-K and foiled an attempt of the group to establish itself in its territory last year. The arrested IS-K operatives included Adil Panjsheri, Abu Munzir, and Kaka Younis, all central figures in the recruitment, travel, and funding of fighters and suicide bombers, including those involved in the attacks in Kerman, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Moscow.

It was also reported that Tariq Tajiki, a key member of the branch and the mastermind of the Kerman attack, had then stayed back in Afghanistan.

However, since Afghanistan also shares borders with Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, there is a probability that the mastermind may have slipped into Tajikistan.

The IS-K leadership has been using old-fashioned methods of communication through a network of couriers to deliver instructions and conduct in-person meetings instead of using electronic devices and the internet to avoid detection.