Source: In Turkmenistan, gold confiscated from officials is exported for sale abroad
According to Indian law enforcement agencies, 105 passengers were detained at the International Airport in New Delhi, flying to Ashgabat by Turkmen Airlines.
The special operation was carried out on December 18. After inspecting the luggage of passengers, about $800 000 were discovered. Only some of the detainees were able to confirm the legality of the origin of the discovered money and were released. Nine citizens of Turkmenistan were arrested, they are accused of illegal gold trading in India and an attempt to export the proceeds from the sale of gold.
This is not the first case of smuggling gold from Turkmenistan. In May of this year, in India, intelligence services detained 28 citizens of Turkmenistan who tried to smuggle 19 kilograms of gold. As a result of the interrogation, it turned out that in the previous visit they had transported 7 kilograms of gold. At the same time, five more citizens of Turkmenistan were detained for illegal transportation of gold.
In February of this year, Azerbaijan’s customs officers detained three citizens of Turkmenistan, Muhammet Charyev, Bibimalin Moshiev and Ogulgennet Palvanova for trying to transport about 1 kilogram of undeclared gold. Also, on February 2, two brothers were detained in Minsk while trying to illegally sell 10 diamonds.
According to ACCA sources in Turkmenistan, 90% of contraband gold belongs to senior officials from the Ministry of National Security, who, in conjunction with other influential officials, illegally export confiscated gold from corrupt officials under investigation.
A striking example of this is the scandal with the relatives of ex-official Nobatov, who were detained in India on suspicion of smuggling gold.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan does not comment on reports of the arrest of citizens of Turkmenistan abroad.
