An illegal casino network organized by nationals of Serbia and Montenegro has reportedly been revealed in Dushanbe.
A special report shown on the Tajik national TV channel Tojikiston, in particular, notes that the main organizers of that illegal casino network in Dushanbe were the national of Serbia Milos Alekseyevic and the national of Montenegro Maxim Popovic.
According to the report, the group that organized the illegal casino network in the Tajik capital was broken up in September and nine persons, including seven Tajik nationals and two foreign citizens (citizens of Serbia and Montenegro), were detained on suspicion of being engaged in organizing illegal gambling.
Joint operations have reportedly been carried out by representatives of the Dushanbe Chief Prosecutor’s Office and the Interior Ministry Criminal Investigation Directorate.
On September 20, a joint operation was carried out at the head office of Invest Lotto Ltd in Dushanbe’s Girpozem area its branches on Bukhoro, Nusratullo Makhsoum and Nemat Qaraboyev streets.
In all, 77 joint operations were reportedly carried out and they led to the arrest of alleged organizers of gambling in Dushanbe. Among them are Kayumars Kiromov, Kambiz Najotov and Faromarz Najotov, who, in collusion with Milos Alekseyevic and Maxim Popovic, organized illegal casinos in Dushanbe, Khurshed Sattorzoda, an official with the Dushanbe Chief Prosecutor’s Office, said.
According to him, administrators of those casinos – Mehrangez Atovullo, Dilafrouz Sahripova and Roksana Burhonova — were also arrested.
1,3 million somoni, 200,000 U.S. dollars, 200,000 Russian rubles, 3,000 euros and 18 vehicles have reportedly been confiscated in those operations.
Criminal proceedings against the detained persons have been instituted under the provisions of three articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code: Article 240 – organizing and keeping casinos, gaming tables and slot machines; Article 286 – foreign currency trafficking; and Article 247 – fraud. An investigation is under way.
Invest Lotto Ltd was reportedly registered in 2019. Headquartered in Dushanbe, it had several branches in Dushanbe, Yovon and Vahdat.
Recall, Tajikistan had land-based casinos until 2009, when land-based gambling was explicitly outlawed in the country.
On March 12, 2009, members of the Majlisi Milli (Tajikistan’s upper chamber of parliament) seconded the amendments to the country’s penal code criminalizing casino and gambling machines keeping.
Tajikistan’s Penal Code now stipulates that casino and gambling machines keeping is punished by six to eight years in jail with confiscation of property.
