DUSHANBE, June 9, 2009, Asia-Plus — Resident of the village of Kuhnaqurghon in GBAO’s Murgab district, Jumaboy Nosirov, is facing charge of poaching, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).
Nosirov was detained in an operation carried out by local police in cooperation with employees of the Murgab department for environmental protection this week. When searching his UAZ-469 (Russian jeep), police officers found two sacks with meat of Marco Polo sheep and hunting gun IZH-32.
Criminal proceedings against Jumaboy Nosirov have been instituted under the provisions of two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – Article 232 (illegal hunting) and Article 195 (illegally bearing, possessing and acquiring weapons).
We will recall that the Tajik government on January 1 this year introduced a two-year moratorium on hunting for Marco Polo sheep and other rare animals in Eastern Pamir (Murgab district in Gorno Badakhshan). The moratorium is dedicated to protect fauna of the region that has seriously suffered from both legal hunting and poaching over the past two decades. According to official data, there are some 12,000 Marco Polo sheep in Badakhshan while before the collapse of the Soviet Union, some 40,000 Marco Polo sheep lived in Gorno Badakhshan.
