Moscow police crack down on Afghan traders

For the second day running, heavily-armed police in Moscow have cordoned off a hotel being used by traders from Afghanistan.

The police say their operation is aimed at rooting out gangs operating in what they described as an illegal independent economic zone, involved in the drugs trade, prostitution and arms smuggling.

But the chairman of the Afghan traders' organisation the Afghan Working Centre, Mr Ghulam Mohammad, has dismissed the allegations and has in turn accused the police of brutality, saying about four-hundred people were arrested, with some being kicked and beaten.

A BBC regional analyst says there are about one-hundred-thousand Afghans in Russia, some of whom have become extremely rich through importing and selling foreign goods.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service