DUSHANBE, January 24, 2012, Asia-Plus – Fattoh Saidov, the head of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, has confirmed that the brother of the first deputy head of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) has been detained for alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Fattoh Saidov revealed on January 24 that Faridoun Umarov, the head of the department for combating drug trafficking at the police station in the Farkhor district, Khatlon province was detained last week.

Faridoun Umarov is the brother of the first deputy head of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS), Mansour Umarov.

Umarov was the member of the organized crime group, which involved several high-ranking law enforcement officers from Khatlon province, the anticorruption agency chief said.

“Faridoun Umarov was taken under custody but charges have not yet been officially brought against him,” Saidov said, adding that brother cannot be responsible for his brother’s actions.  “Anyway, the investigation will show what from which.”

No one drug-trafficking group acts without patronage from high-ranking officials, Fattoh Saidov stressed.

We will recall that a number of high-ranking law enforcement officers have been arrested for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking.

Major Zafar Mirzoyev, the chief of the department within the Interior Ministry directorate for combating drug trafficking (drug police), and Lieutenant-Colonel Tohirkhon Sherov, the chief of the drug control squad within the Dushanbe police directorate were arrested along with Faridoun Umarov in early January.