DUSHANBE, February 1, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- Obidjon Odilov, resident of the Tursuzoda district, and Suhrob Azamov, resident of the Roudaki district, have been detained on suspicion of robbing Chinese national in Dushanbe in late January, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

The source at a MoI said that part of robbed things had been confiscated from Odilov and Azamov and criminal proceedings had been instituted against them under the provisions of Article 248 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – robbery.

As it had been reported earlier, Chinese national Su Fanizin (phonetically spelled), who works with one of companies in Dushanbe, was robbed by unidentified persons in the Tajik capital on January 25.  MoI received an appropriate application from Su on January 29.  According to him, unidentified persons stopped him Monday (January 25) at the Korgar Street and took away 2,780 somoni, 200 U.S. dollars, mobile phone Nokia-5310 and some other personal belongings.

According to the MoI data, 32 crimes (mostly thefts and robberies) were committed against foreigners in the country last year, which is some 30 percent more than in 2008.

In the meantime, foreigners committed 78 crimes (mostly fraud, drug-trafficking and contraband) in Tajikistan in 2009, which is 47 percent more than in 2008.