Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — The Chairman of Kyrgyzstan’s State Committee for National Security (SCNS), Kamchybek Tashiev, revealed that part of the country’s territory was previously under the control of a businessman from Uzbekistan, Salim Abduvaliyev.

On 16 January, during a meeting with higher education workers, Tashiev stated that Abduvaliyev, also known as “Salimboyvachcha” or “Salimbay,” “fully controlled southern Kyrgyzstan.”

“Our country began to fall under the influence of other leaders of organized crime. For example, Salimboyvachcha from Uzbekistan, who controlled the entire south of Kyrgyzstan. In the south, all leaders of criminal groups, major businessmen, and even political figures and parliament deputies approached him, communicated with him, and followed his directives. But that will no longer happen. We will develop independently, and organized crime will cease to exist,” said the SCNS head.

Tashiev also spoke about the elimination of the criminal authority Kamchy Kolbayev (Kamchybek Asanbek) in October 2023. According to him, he had to issue the order for Kolbayev’s elimination in the interest of the state.

“They had a ‘president’ — a ‘thief in law,’ and ‘overseers.’ They collected money from entrepreneurs across regions, districts, and cities. It was a powerful structure. I had to make the decision to eliminate the ‘thief in law’ for the sake of the state. We eliminated him, along with his associates and other members of the organized crime group,” Tashiev explained.

He emphasized that Kyrgyzstan is now free from organized crime groups and that criminals “no longer have anything and won’t in the future.” “Now entrepreneurs no longer have to pay anyone as they did before. After the elimination of organized crime groups, entrepreneurs even came to us and asked who they should pay,” he added.

Kamchy Kolbayev was also wanted by the United States. According to the U.S. State Department, Kolbayev was convicted in 2000 of murdering two people and attempted murder, receiving a 25-year sentence but escaping prison six years later. In 2007, the U.S. State Department identified him as “the leader of the most influential criminal group” in Kyrgyzstan. In 2008, Kolbayev was officially crowned as a “thief in law” in Moscow.

In 2011, the administration of former U.S. President Barack Obama included Kolbayev in the sanctions list of major foreign drug traffickers. A year later, the U.S. Treasury recognized him as an associate of the criminal syndicate "Brothers’ Circle."

In August 2024, Kyrgyzstan issued an international arrest warrant for Salim Abduvaliyev through Interpol. It should be noted that in early December 2023, he was detained on suspicion of illegal possession of firearms.

Abduvaliyev was found guilty under Article 248 of the Criminal Code (illegal handling of firearms) and sentenced to six years in prison by a decision of the Mirabad District Court on 19 March 2024.

However, on 12 January 2025, he was released from a penal institution due to health reasons.