DUSHANBE, September 17, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Two Uzbek nationals – a 46-year-old Sayfiddin Yoqubov and a 36-year-old Sharif Ghaybulloyev – were detained in the Panjakent district, Sughd province on September 16 on suspicion of having been involved in robbery, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).  

Speaking in an interview with Asia-Plus, Mahmadullo Asadulloyev, a spokesman for a MoI, said that the preliminary investigation had established that Yoqubov and Ghaybulloyev, who are residents of the Urgut district in Uzbekistan’s Samarqand region, attacked a shepherd of the Geloniyon jamoat in the Panjakent district on the night of September 2-3 and stole 26 head of cattle. 

“The cattle stealers were detained in the city of Panjakent on Tuesday,” the spokesman said, noting that the stolen cattle had been returned to their owners.  

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against the Uzbek nationals under the provisions of Article 249 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – robbery, and an investigation is under way.