QURGHON TEPPA, April 1, 2013, Asia-Plus /Sayrahmon Nazriyev/ -- A trail of a group of alleged abductors is supposed to begin in a court in the Khuroson district, Khatlon province on April 5.

“Eeraj Gadoyev, Qiyomiddin Qosimov, Dilshod Bukhoriyev, Tolib Iskandarov and Miyansar Tabarov were detained last summer on suspicion of having taken the Dushanbe entrepreneur Khurshed Gadoyev hostage (one of abductors and the victim are just namesakes).  They were allegedly holding him at a summer cottage of Eeraj Gadoyev in Sarband,” the Khuroson court head Sayrahmon Davlatov told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, police officers released Khurshed Gadoyev on June 30, 2012.  “According to the case materials, they captured Khurshed Gadoyev in the northern city of Chkalovsk on June 28 and brought him to Sarband,” said Davlatov.  “They demanded 700,000 U.S. dollars in ransom from Khurshed Gadoyev’s relatives for his release.”

Eeraj Gadoyev’s defense lawyer, Nourullo Majidov, says the defendants face charge of human abduction (Article 130 (2) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code).

Meanwhile, Radio Liberty’s Tajik Service reports that a prosecutor’s office in Dushanbe’s Sino district on March 24 detained Khurshed Gadoyev, who is the victim in the abovementioned abduction case.  Khurshed Gadoyev is reportedly suspected of a large-scale fraud.

In 2010, drug control officers reportedly found 50 kilograms of heroin in Toyota-Prado belonging to Khurshed Gadoyev.  That time, a classmate and close friend of Khurshed Gadoyev, Abdujabbor Abdughafforov, was arrested.  Meanwhile, witnesses say that Khurshed Gadoyev was in the vehicle alone, and most likely, he has a high-ranking protector, RFE/RL noted.

Later, Abdughafforov was released for unknown reasons and fled the country.  The Moscow law enforcement authorities reported on January 17, 2013 that Abdughafforov was arrested and the Tajik law enforcement authorities are currently seeking his extradition.

The Sino prosecutor’s office reportedly says that three months before the seizure of 50 kilograms of heroin, Khurshed Gadoyev purchased Toyota-Prado from Eeraj Gadoyev, promising to pay money later.  Khurshed Gadoyev, however, has not paid money for the vehicle.  Moreover, he took a large sum of money from Eraj Gadoyev and has not repaid the money borrowed from Eeraj Gadoyev.