VZCZCXRO4111
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHLN RUEHNEH RUEHPW RUEHSK RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHDBU #0971/01 2291102
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 171102Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0653
INFO RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0033
RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEABND/DEA HQ WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHDBU/AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE 1374

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