TAJIKISTAN: JULY 2009 LAW ENFORCEMENT DEVELOPMENTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 DUSHANBE 000971 SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN (PRESCOTT) INL/AAE (BUHLER) JUSTICE FOR (DUCOT AND NEWCOMBE) DEFENSE FOR OSD/P E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV SNAR KCRM KJUS TI SUBJECT: TAJIKISTAN: JULY 2009 LAW ENFORCEMENT DEVELOPMENTS DUSHANBE 00000971 001.2 OF 002 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: A clash between government forces and an unknown armed group took place in Nurobod. Results of the first phase of the Poppy 2009 anti-drug operation are summarized. Drug control officers seize a large amount of hashish in the Gorno-Badakhshan region. Two Tajiks suspected of supporting illegal groups are arrested with explosives. Three explosions occurred in Dushanbe. A former government minister and ex-opposition commander died in mysterious circumstances in Tavildara. Security services later killed the leader of an illegal armed group in Tavildara. End summary. ¶2. (U) On July 17, an armed clash is reported to have taken place in the Rasht valley, north-eastern Tajikistan. According to Tajik law enforcement authorities, an unknown armed group attacked a National Guard post in the Goluboye Ozero area near the village of Yofuch, some 30 kilometers from the administrative center of the Nurobod district. As a result of the skirmish, five National Guardsmen were wounded and six assailants were killed. Three assault rifles with attached grenade launchers were found at the scene of the attack. ¶3. (U) On July 16, Tajik law enforcement authorities released a summation of the results of the first phase of the anti-drug operation "Poppy 2009." This operation was carried out across the country from May 10 to July 1, 2009. 2,500 law enforcement officers and 900 representatives of local authorities were involved. The first phase of the operation revealed 72 cases of wild hemp cultivation on an area of 15,015 hectares; law enforcement authorities destroyed 1,874,807 hemp plants, and seized 1,134 kilograms of narcotics. The seizures include 355 kilograms of heroin, 271 kilograms of raw opium and 426 kilograms of cannabis. ¶4. (U) On July 20, drug control officers from the Badakhshan Department of the Drug Control Agency detained an Afghan national, Iskandar waladi Shoniyoz. He was apprehended while illegally crossing the Panj River near the village of Niwodak in the Shugnan district. Upon his arrest, Drug control officers confiscated from Shoniyoz a sack of hashish weighing 18.4 kilograms. Criminal proceedings have been instituted, and an ;investigation is under way. ¶5. (U) On July 22 police officers and border guards arrested two Tajik citizens for the illegal possession of explosives. Local police suspect the explosives were brought from Afghanistan and were to be transferred to illegal armed groups active in eastern Tajikistan. Tajik forces have been battling insurgent groups, many of whom, authorities believe, have come across the porous Afghan border, in the eastern part of the country in the past several weeks. ¶6. (U) On July 27 two explosions occurred in the Tajik capital. Tajik law enforcement authorities have characterized the blasts as terrorist acts although there is little agreement on who or what groups, are responsible. The first explosion occurred at 9:30 p.m., July 25, on Titov Street, not far from the arrival hall of Dushanbe airport. The explosion shattered windows in a nearby apartment building. Law enforcement officers found fragments of a homemade bomb at the explosion site. No injuries were reported as a result of the explosion. The second explosion occurred several hours later near the Tojikiston Hotel in the center of Dushanbe. A low-yield explosive was placed under a tree near the hotel. While there were no injuries, the explosion damaged a vehicle that was parked in the vicinity. On July 31 a third explosion occurred in Dushanbe, near the Korvon market. A bomb was placed in a police car, and injured two police officers. The bombing appeared to be criminal in intent, and possibly related to disputes between police and market sellers. ¶7. (SBU) On July 11 Mirzo Zieev, a former Minister of Emergency DUSHANBE 00000971 002.2 OF 002 Situation and opposition commander was killed, possibly while in police custody. According to media reports originating from government sources, he was killed by Nemat Azizov (the leader of an illegal armed group active in Tavildara) because Mirzo "betrayed" them. The official version of events is that after Mirzo's arrest on July 8, 2009, he decided to assist authorities in negotiating the surrender of the remaining members of his criminal organization, which included fighters led by Nemat Azizov. Mirzo was shot dead three days later as the police convoy in which he was traveling was ambushed by Azizov's men. ¶8. On July 29, Tajik government forces killed Nemat Azizov. The incident happened near the village of Miyonadu in the Tavildara district. Nemat Azizov, also known as "Sheikh Nemat," 41, was a resident of the village of Pastirogh Sheikh in the Sagirdasht jamoat of Badakhshan Darvoz district. He was a field commander in the United Tajik Opposition during the 1990s'civil war. After the signing of the General Peace Agreement in 2007, his group was integrated into the Ministry of Emergency Situations. He served as commander of one of the two battalions of the Committee on Emergency Situations deployed in Tavildara. He was wanted by Tajik law enforcement authorities in recent months for alleged manslaughter and drug-related crimes. QUAST