DUSHANBE, November 5, 2012, Asia-Plus — Uzbek officials have announced that three women from the southeastern region of Surkhandaryo have been jailed for spying for neighboring Tajikistan, Radio Liberty reports.
A televised statement on November 5 said the three women had received between 14 and 15 years in jail.
Investigators say two of the women are Uzbek citizens and the third is a Tajik-born woman without any citizenship.
Investigators say they received payments from the Tajik secret services for information about Uzbek military and law-enforcement buildings.
No other information has been made public.
Uzbek-Tajik relations have been strained for years due to disputes over water and energy resources as well as transit routes.
Tashkent has cut electricity and natural-gas supplies and closing road and railway connections between the two countries in recent years.
