DUSHANBE, August 20, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- The US Embassy in Dushanbe through the Anti-Terrorism Assistance Program, presented $40,000 in crime scene investigator and evidence collection kits to the Ministry of Interior’s Forensics Laboratory.

According to the US Embassy, the grant is part of the United States’ ongoing cooperative effort with the Ministry of Interior to modernize its capacity to collect and analyze evidence and investigate crimes.  On July 25, 2007, the Ministry of Interior reopened its Forensics Laboratory, refurbished and equipped at a cost of more than $1 million by the Embassy’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Assistance Program.

Embassy Regional Security Officer Seth Green and First Deputy Minister of Interior Major-General Rauf Yusupov oversaw the turning over of various evidence collection material enabling crime scene investigators to collect blood, ballistics, and other evidence from a crime scene without contaminating the evidence, and transport it to the laboratory for analysis. These modernization efforts help Tajik law enforcement to better clear innocent suspects, and successfully prosecute criminals in court.