DUSHANBE, February 11, 2015, Asia-Plus – The Islamic Revival Party (IRP) activist Jamoliddin Mahmoudov, who is also member of the Central Commission for Elections and Referenda (CCER), has been detained on suspicion of illegal possession of weapons.
A statement released by the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) public relations center on February 10 notes that two Makarov pistols, 51 bullets and a grenade fuse have been found hidden in the yard of a house of Latif Sardorov, resident of the village of Chuquraki Bolo in the Hisor district.
Sardorov reportedly said that the pistols and ammunition belong to Jamoliddin Mahmoudov, who gave them to Sardorov in 1996 for storage.
Jamoliddin Mahmoudov has been taken into custody and criminal proceedings have been instituted under the provisions of Article 195 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – illegally bearing, possessing, and acquiring weapons; an investigation is under way.
IRP leader Muhiddin Kabiri has confirmed that one of pistols, found in Sardorov’s house, belongs to Jamoliddin Mahmoudov.
According to him, the pistol was given to Mahmoudov during the civil war, when Mahmoudov co-chaired the ceasefire sub-commissions.
“In 1996, Mahmoudov gave the pistol to his fellow villager Latif Sardorov for destruction but he buried the pistol in the yard of his house. In late 2013, following quarrel within her husband Sardorov’s daughter-in-law notified the police of the weapons buried in the yard,” said Kabiri. “When police officer came, Latif Sardorov admitted that he had buried weapons in the yard. The SCNS officers, however, asked police officers to leave the weapons in the hide.”
IRP leader added that he knows nothing about the second pistol discovered from the hide.
