DUSHANBE, October 13, 2010, Asia-Plus – Taxi drivers in eastern Tajikistan say they are using alternative routes after armed groups began attacking and robbing taxis on a highway near the Tajik-Afghan border, RFE/RL”s Tajik Service reported on October 12.
Drivers traveling between the capital, Dushanbe, and Khorog, the capital of the eastern Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, told RFE/RL they began using a longer route via Khoburabot after at least five cars were stopped and the passengers robbed on October 9 in Shouroobod.
Taxi driver Nazrullo Davlatov said an armed group stopped at least five taxis late on October 9 and robbed the passengers of cash, mobile phones, and other valuables.
Saadi Elnazarov, a taxi dispatcher in Khorog, confirmed Davlatov”s account of the robberies and said all taxi drivers were using the Khoburabot route to avoid the armed thieves.
Tajik officials have not commented on the situation. Some unnamed sources within the security forces told RFE/RL the robbers were likely Afghans who often cross the poorly guarded border to smuggle drugs and commit other crimes.
The Kulob-Kulma highway that connects southern Tajikistan with China is the main route used by travelers to reach Gorno Badakhshan from Dushanbe.
But the lack of security in the area has caused people to travel via Khoburabot, which is longer and also goes through the volatile Rasht region.
