DUSHANBE, August 26, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Cases of the theft of things from bags of the Moscow-Dushanbe flight passengers have become more frequent at Moscow’s Domodedovo in recent months, Alisher Rustamov, the head of the production and commercial service at Dushanbe International Airport, told reporters in Dushanbe on August 26.

According to him, cases of the theft of things from luggage of Moscow-Dushanbe flight # 628 have taken place at the Domodedovo airport.  “In this connection, a working group, made up of representatives from the Dushanbe airport and officers from the transportation police department and customs control at the airport, has been sent to Moscow to look into the situation,” said Rustamov, “The inspection has revealed that the cases of the theft of things take place practically at every flight # 628, which is operated from the Domodedovo airport at night.”

He showed reporters video recording for the period from August 16 to August 20, when the working group was checking passengers’ baggage.  “When checking  baggage on the board, they  found out that 35 pieces of baggage are damaged,” said the Dushanbe airport official, “The damaged bags were shown to their owners and it turned out that money, new mobile phones, jewelries and other valuables were stolen.”

He said they had applied to the Domodedovo airport representatives, “but they deny these facts.”  Representatives from Tajik law enforcement agencies will be sent to Moscow to investigate into these incidents in cooperation with their Russian colleagues, Rustamov added.

In the meantime, Aziz Khojayev, the deputy chief of the transportation police department at the Dushanbe airport, noted that such cases were repeatedly reported in 2007-2008 as well.  The law enforcement officers took measures and such cases ceased and have not recurred until recently, he said.  “16 theft cases were detected at the Domodedovo that time,” Khojayev said, expressing confidence that the theft cases take place at the Domodedovo baggage compartment.