MOSCOW, February 19 (RIA Novosti) - Moscow Region police have detained two Uzbekistan nationals suspected of recruiting militants and sending them to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, the Russian Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

“In 2012 alone, they sent from Moscow and Moscow region 38 Uzbek nationals and at least 18 citizens from [other] Central Asian countries, as well as Russians, to militant training camps,” the ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

The two men are believed to be members of an international terrorist organization and have been on an international wanted list, the ministry said, without specifying which one.

It did not say when they were detained or exactly in what part of the Moscow region.

A large number of mobile phones as well as religious extremist and terrorist literature were seized from the suspects during the search, the ministry said.

The detainees will be extradited to Uzbekistan.