DUSHANBE, August 4, 2008, Asia-Plus — On Sunday August 3, Tajik border officers extradited three Uzbek nationals, who have been wanted by Uzbek police on suspicion of having committed a number of crimes in the territory of Uzbekistan, to the Uzbek law enforcement authorities at the border-crossing checkpoint Bratstvo in the Tursunzoda district, some 45 kilometers to the west of Dushanbe.
Anvar Mengliyev, 26, Fayziddin Rousiyev, 21, Zarif Jourayev, 20, who were detained by Tajik border guards on July 11 when they were illegally crossing the Tajik border, were extradited to officers from the Uzbek border unit deployed in Uzbekistan’s Uzun district.
The detainees are residents of the Uzun district. According to Mengliyev, they crossed into Tajik territory just for purchasing a bulk of silkworms in Tursunzoda.
Mengliyev’s farther, Davalt Mengliyev, confirmed that his son had gone to Tursunzoda to purchase silkworms. “They were retuning from Tajikistan when Uzbek border guards opened fire upon them,” said Davalt Mengliyev, “Therefore, Anvar, Fayziddin and Zarif were forced to return to the Tajik territory.”
Fayziddin’s father said that after that the Uzbek law enforcement authorities had put the names of their sons on the list of police-wanted persons.
In the meantime, according to some source, the detainees are suspected of having been committed criminals in the territory of Uzbekistan. Tajik law enforcement neither confirmed nor refused this information.
The extradition was held on the sidelines of the meeting of representatives of Tajik and Uzbek border services that was held at the border-crossing checkpoint the same day. Tajik and Uzbek border representatives discussed ways to expand cooperation between the border services of the two countries,” the source at the Tajik border service said.
