DUSHANBE, March 1, 2011, Asia-Plus  -- Mirzokhouja Ahmadov, former field commander of the United Tajik Opposition (UTO) who joined forces with government troops last October to hunt down militants of Alovuddin Davlatov (Ali Bedaki) and Abdullo Rahimov (Mullo Abdullo) in Rasht district, has confirmed information about voluntary handover of weapons.

Ahmadov told Asia-Plus today that he and his supporters handed over weapons to the Rasht law enforcement authorities on Monday, February 28.  “In all, we handed over two sniper rifles, one light gun Kalashnikov (RPK), eight assault rifles Kalashnikov and bullets.  Besides, we had handed over two other assault rifles to local police station earlier,” he said, noting that all those weapons were registered with the Ministry of Interior at the end of last year already.

“They registered the weapons and gave them back to us in order that we could participate in operations,” said Ahmadov, “Yesterday, the handover of weapons was documented officially.  The weapons will now be stored in local police department or prosecutor’s office and in case of necessity, they will be given to me and my people if we participate in operations to hunt down illegal armed formations in the area in the future as well.”

He added that search operation for militants of illegal armed groups was currently going on in Tojikobod and Nourobod districts.

Tohir Normatov, an official with the Ministry of Interior, has confirmed that Mirzokhouja Ahmadov and his supporters voluntarily handed over their weapons to the law enforcement authorities.  

We will recall that Mirzokhouja Ahmadov was a member of the United Tajik Opposition during the country''s civil war in the mid-1990s but was later appointed to head the Rasht organized crime control department as part of a broader attempt at reintegrating the former UTO field commanders.  He was dismissed in 2008.

Last year, authorities blamed the September 19 attack on the government convoy in the Kamarob Gorge on local militants, including Mirzokhouja Ahmadov.  His house in Rasht was raided by government forces and he went into hiding.  Ahmadov has always denied any involvement in the Kamarob ambush and accused the government of putting pressure on former opposition commanders.  He joined forces with government troops to hunt down militants of illegal armed groups in October 2010.