DUSHANBE, December 4, Asia-Plus — Another two residents of Khatlon’s Shuroobod district have been taken hostage.
A source at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said that the incident took place in the border village of Kovok Monday night.
According to him, a group of armed Afghans led by certain Naim illegally crossed into the Tajik territory and took two residents from the border village of Kovok to Afghanistan. The source said that according to the preliminary version, the Afghan drug dealers are holding them hostage until their families pay ransom money to recover debts.
The State Committee for National Security (GKNB) has confirmed this information.
It is not the first case in Shuroobod. We will recall that two teenagers from Shuroobod were taken hostage by Afghans drug dealers on November 17. The Safar brothers — the 9th grade pupil Khoushnoud and the 11th grade pupil Khoushbakht — were taken hostage, and a price of 20,000 US dollars was set for their return (the amount, their farther, who works with the Yol jamoat in Shuroobod, has owed to the Afghan dealers). They were released in a special operation carried out by Tajik border guards and security officers on November 30. As a result of the operation, one of Afghan drug dealers was killed and another one was injured. No casualties were reported among Tajik border guards.
Tajik villagers living near the Afghan border are falling prey to Afghan drug dealers who are taking desperate measures such as cattle rustling, kidnapping and hostage taking to recover debts. The most vulnerable part of the Tajik border is Shuroobod area. According to unofficial sources, over the past two years, more than 15 people here have been taken hostage to clear money owed to the Afghan drug dealers. Many of them have already been released through negotiations.
