DUSHANBE, October 21, 2009, Asia-Plus — In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, deputy Interior Minister, Ramazon Rahimov, revealed on October 21 that 548 people in Tajikistan have been listed as followers of Salafism.
According to him, 13 members of the outlawed religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, 14 members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) and one member of the Islamist terrorist group, Shamsheri Islom” (The Sword of Islam), have been detained in the country since the beginning of this year.
“The detained member of the Shamsheri Islom group is the resident of the Vahdat district Rahmiddin Shohidov,” said Rahimov, “He is suspected of having been involved in commitment of 14 crimes, including two terrorist acts, two killings and 10 robberies.”
On the criminal situation in the country, the deputy minister said that more than 10,000 crimes have been registered in Tajikistan over the first nine months of this year, which is 975 cases, or 10.8 percent, more than in the same period of last year.
The number of serious crimes reported in January-September 2009 increased by 6 percent compared to the same period of 2008. In all, 1,438 serious crimes have been reported in the country over the first nine months of this year.
“Over the same nine-month period, 542 drug-related crimes have been reported in the country and 1,907 kilograms of narcotics have been seized by police over the report period,” Rahimov said, noting that police accounted for 50 percent of the overall amount of narcotics seized in the country in January-September 2009.
Over the report period, police have also seized 995 firearms, including 190 assault rifles Kalashnikov, 122 Makarov guns, 141 carbines, 124 rifles, and 388 smooth-bore guns.
“In January-September 2009, 56 crimes have been committed by police officers and 40 criminal proceedings have been instituted against 52 police officers,” Rahimov said.
