DUSHANBE, February 26, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Three members of the organized criminal group, including two officers from the police special unit, have been detained in Dushanbe.  The leader of this criminal grouping is an officer with the main border directorate within the State Committee for national Security (GKNB).

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, the source at the Ministry of Interior (MoI) said that three members of the organized criminal group were detained in Dushanbe on February 24.  Two of them proved to be officers of the police special unit – Ravshan Homidov and Tohir Rahimov.  The ringleader Tavakkalkhouja Nizomov, who is an officer with the main border directorate within the State Committee for national Security (GKNB), managed to escape, the MoI source said.

Members of this group are suspected of having committed a number of grave crimes in the territory of the country, including recent attack on casino in the Oq Qurghon jamoat in the Roudaki district, some 20 kilometers south of Dushanbe.

“A group of armed persons in masks broke into the Pamir Casino in Oq Qurghon on the night of February 15,” said the source.  “The gunmen beat guards and visitors during the attack and seized some 40,000 US dollars.”

Criminal proceedings have been instituted on robbery charges and an investigation is under way.