DUSHANBE, January 11, Asia-Plus  -- Each of six criminal in Tajikistan is woman.  Compared to 2006 there was a 24.6 percent increase in the number of crimes committed by women in 2007: the number of female crimes increased from 1,210 in 2006 to 1,508 in 2007.

Colonel Haidar Mahmadiyev, chief of the Interior Ministry staff, remarked this in his interview with Asia-Plus.   

According to him, increasing juvenile crime also evokes serious concern.  The number of crimes committed by teenagers rose 6.7 percent in the year to December 31, 2007, reaching 554 cases.  In 2006, 519 crimes committed by teenagers were reported in the country.

“The major part of juvenile delinquents are children from vulnerable families who do not attend school,” Mahmadiyev said.    

He also noted that police officers last year revealed 711 latent crimes, including 21 murders, 17 rape cases, 31 robberies, 19 cases of looting, 143 fraud cases, etc.   

“Increasing trust of population in police officers has played a significant role in revealing crimes,” said Mahmadiyev, “Thus, we received more than 1,900 applications and reports from citizens last year on crimes that had been committed in the previous years.”  1,368 such crimes were solved last year, according to him.