POSTED AT 5:53 AM EST Thursday, October 31 space

Associated Press

Moscow — A suspected member of a Chechen gang was arrested in Moscow while carrying eight kilograms of mercury, and authorities believe he intended to use the poison in a terror attack, police said Thursday.

Sergei Krymgerei, an alleged member of prominent Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev's gang, was arrested by police acting on a tip, city police spokesman Filipp Zolotnitsky said. The suspect was carrying a champagne bottle full of the highly toxic substance when arrested, the Interfax news agency reported.

"Such an amount of mercury would poison a very large number of people," Mr. Zolotnitsky said on NTV television.

The report did not say when Mr. Krymgerei was arrested. He has refused to give any testimony.

Meanwhile, top Russian officials tried to deflect increasing criticism of the secrecy surrounding the handling of last week's theater hostage crisis. In the standoff, Chechen rebels demanding an end to the war in the breakaway republic held some 750 people hostage for 58 hours until security forces ended the seige.

Officials called a news conference Thursday to present grenades, explosives and other physical evidence found in the Moscow theater.

The news conference, which will include four of the hostages, comes a day after Russia's health minister confirmed that a powerful opiate was used to subdue the attackers before special forces stormed the theatre early Saturday.

At least 117 hostages died from the effects of the aerosol compound, based on the fast-acting opiate fentanyl. The knockout gas was pumped through the building's ventilation system.

Some 184 former hostages remained hospitalized Thursday, eight of them in serious condition, the Interfax news agency reported.

About 50 of the hostage-takers were killed by the special forces. The hostage-takers planted explosives around the theater and on themselves when they interrupted the Oct. 23 performance of a musical, less than three miles from the Kremlin.

Health Minister Yuri Shevchenko said Wednesday the compound itself was not lethal, but became so when it was used on people starved of oxygen, dehydrated, hungry, unable to move adequately and under severe psychological stress.

"It is precisely these factors that led to a lethal outcome for some of the hostages," Mr. Shevchenko said.

However, injected, skin patch and oral doses of fentanyl sold in the United States carry warnings that the anesthetic can be fatal if administered in too high a dose, and that doses must be customized, taking into account the patient's size and any previous exposure to similar drugs.

Also Wednesday, authorities in Denmark arrested Akhmed Zakayev, a key aide to Chechen rebel President Aslan Maskhadov. Russia has requested Mr. Zakayev's extradition and alleges he was involved in the hostage-taking and other terrorist attacks.

The arrest was a sign that Western countries now are taking seriously Moscow's longtime claim that Chechen separatists are linked to international terrorism.

Russian officials accused Mr. Maskhadov, whom foreign governments previously considered a moderate Chechen leader, of involvement in the hostage-taking, but have not offered evidence.

Meanwhile, Chechens living in Moscow complained of increased harassment following the theater siege and said police were making unannounced visits to their homes.

Elita Usmanova, 33, said police armed with automatic rifles showed up at her apartment and took her two teenage sons to the local police station, where they were photographed, fingerprinted and questioned for several hours before being released.

She said she was afraid to let her children go to school or leave the apartment, for fear they would be detained again or attacked on the street.

"Friends called and said it's better to stay home. The police are stopping women and children, there's no difference," she said.

Andrei Kurilenko, who on Wednesday buried his 13-year-old son, Arseny, an actor killed in the hostage crisis, pleaded for tolerance.

"The main thing is that there be no revenge, especially on ethnic lines, because people will die, children will die," he told TVS television.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2002