KHUJAND, June 2, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Another alleged member of the outlawed religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir organization has been detained in Sughd province.

According to press service of the Sughd police directorate, an operation carried out by officers from the Sughd department for combating organized crime on June 1 led to the arrest of a 23-year-old resident of Khujand Azam Quchqorov.  The preliminary investigation has established that Quchqorov joined the Hizb ut-Tahrir part in 2008 and he was engaged in spreading the Hizb ut-Tahrir leaflets and literature in the province, the source said.

Criminal proceedings against Azam Quchqorov have been instituted under two articles of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – Article 187, part 2 (organization of criminal group and participation in criminal group) and Article 307, Part 2 (calling in public for forcible overthrow of or change to the constitutional order in Tajikistan).

The arrest of Azam Quchqorov has brought the number of Hizb ut-Tahrir members arrested in northern Tajikistan in recent days to 14.