DUSHANBE, May 31, Asia-Plus -- Dissemination of ideas and leaflets of outlawed religious extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir organization and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) among students at higher educational institutions is acquiring mass character in the northern province of Sughd, Tajik Minister of Interiors Khumdin Sharipov remarked at a meeting with students at Tajik National University in Dushanbe on May 30.  

According to him, young people are spreading leaflets of these organizations for financial reasons rather than for ideological motives.  “For spreading the leaflets they receive 2-3 Somonis per each leaflet,” Khumdin Sharipov said.   

The minister said that officers from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) had discovered cases when some young members of the Islamic Revival Party of Tajikistan (IRPT) were also members of “Hizb ut-Tahrir” or IMU and even of all the three parties simultaneously.  

On the criminal situation and crimes committed by youth, Khumdin Sharipov said that 29 students from Dushanbe higher educational institutions, including nine from Tajik National University, have been detained for various crimes since the beginning of this year.  

“Since 2005, officers from the MoI have discovered 72 cases of trafficking young local women abroad for sexual exploitation,” said Khumdin Sharipov, “More than 25 other young women has been convicted for attempt to sell their babies.”  

According to him, more than 10,000 crimes are annually committed in Tajikistan.  Of them, 85 percent are being solved.  “It is the highest index among the CIS countries in terms of the crime detections,” the minister stressed.