The arrests were made by the Committee for National security (KNS), the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the General Prosecutor's Office of Kazakhstan in a number of regions of the republic, including Astana and Almaty. More than 50 members of a large organized criminal group linked to the “destructive religious environment” have been detained, the National Security Committee of Kazakhstan announced.
„They are suspected of organizing a channel for the theft of goods and cars on a particularly large scale, as well as financing organized crime,”, the press service states. According to her, the group “consisted of representatives of criminals and a destructive religious environment, including those serving sentences in a correctional facility”.
The announcement notes that bank cards, large sums of money, extremist literature, records of money transfers and other items of interest to the investigation were found during the searches.
Detentions were made in the cities of Astana, Alma-Ata, Shymkent, as well as in the regions of Aktobe, Atyrau, Alma-Ata, Zhetisu, West Kazakhstan and Pavlodar.