On Wednesday August 19, officers of the State Committee for National Security (SCNS) detained the chief of the Drug Control Agency Operational Investigation Department, Lieutenant-Colonel Saifiddin Barotzoda. 

According to the SCNS center for public relations, Barotzoda has been detained on suspicion of a large-scale fraud.

During the exercise of his official powers, he reportedly embezzled funds on an especially large scale by means of fraud.

Criminal proceedings have been instituted against Saifiddin Barotzoda under the provisions of Article 247 (4) of Tajikistan’s Penal Code – large-scale fraud; an investigation is under way.