DUSHANBE, February 14, Asia-Plus  - A 30-year-old citizen of Uzbekistan Sh.E. has been arrested in Dushanbe on suspicion of having committed at least two murders, according to the Ministry of Interior (MoI).

The source at a MoI said that the detainee is suspected of killing a 18-year-old girl in Dushanbe.  She was found dead in her apartment with numerous stab wounds.  “The preliminary investigation has also established that he is also involved in the murder that was committed in Dushanbe in April 2005,” said the source, “That time, a 16-year-old schoolgirl S.T. was found dead in her apartment.  She also had numerous stab wounds on her body.”  

According to the source, investigators said that it cannot be ruled out that Sh.E. had also been involved in killing of an 18-year-old female student and an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Dushanbe in February 2005 and July 2006 respectively.   “An investigating team set up at the Prosecutor-General’s Office is considering a version of serial killings,” the source said.  

According to the MoI, Sh.E. is native of the Uzbek city of Qarshi.  Several years ago, a court in Uzbekistan sentenced him to 23 years in jail for killing his stepsister.  However, he was in prison only three years and then was released.  After that he illegally moved to Tajikistan and over the past two years he had lived in Dushanbe.