A kidnapped teenager has been freed in a police operation and several people have been detained on suspicion of being involved in that crime.

The Interior Ministry has given details of the kidnapping case that occurred on December 6 in the city of Tursunzoda, some 60 kilometers to the west of Dushanbe.

A 17-year-old son of the former chief notary of the city of Tursunzoda was kidnapped by members of the organized crime group in the morning of on December 6.

The abductors reportedly demanded 100,000 U.S. dollars in ransom for teenager’s release and threatened to kill him if the police intervene.

“When the Interior Ministry received information about abduction of teenager, a special group comprising officers from the Interior Ministry and the State Committee for National Security has been set up.  Three members of the criminal group were detained on the same day (December 6), at 11:00 pm.  One criminal was killed in the operation because there was threat to life of the abducted teen.  The abducted teen was reunited with his parents.  No injuries among law enforcement officers were reported.  Criminal proceedings have been instituted and an investigation is under way,” the Interior Ministry press center said.

The kidnapped teenager was reportedly freed just five hours after being kidnapped. 

Recall, two child abductors got lengthy jail terms in early November this year.  A court in Dushanbe’s Shohmansour district sentenced Ms. Matlouba Ahmadova and Mr. Rahmonali Ghiyosov to 9 and 8½ years in prison respectively.

Matlouba Ahmadova, 48, was convicted on charges of kidnapping and organizing brothel, and Rahmonali Ghiyosov, 24, was convicted on charges of kidnapping.  Ahmadova will serve her term in a minimum-security penal colony, while Ghiyosov will serve his term in a high-security penal colony.  

As it had been reported earlier, Matlouba Ahmadova, who is owner of a massage salon in Dushanbe, and a 24-year-old Rahmonali Ghiyosov, a nurse boy at the hospital in Dushanbe’s Perviy Sovetskiy area, were arrested on July 20 on suspicion of child abduction.  Ahmadova was reportedly arrested on suspicion of organizing the abduction of the 7-year-old F.B., the daughter of Mrs. Farangis Badalova, who was working as an administrator at Ahmadova’s massage salon.  The kidnapped girl was reportedly freed in police operation just half an hour after being kidnapped.