Traffic police officers caught taking bribe

In three regions of Uzbekistan, law enforcement officers were caught accepting bribes, and criminal cases have been opened against them, the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Public Safety Department reported.

According to the report, the first case occurred in the Tashkent region. An officer from the MIA’s Quarantine Enforcement Group demanded $500 from a man attempting to bring in unfit meat in exchange for taking no action. The officer was caught in the act and charged under Article 210, Part 2, Clause “b” (bribery) of the Criminal Code. He has been dismissed from the service and detained.

The second case occurred in the Samarkand region. A prevention inspector in the Pastdargom district was caught accepting $800 from a citizen to avoid action on certain documents. The officer was dismissed, and a criminal case was opened under Article 168, Part 3, Clause “a” (fraud) and Article 211, Part 1 (bribe giving). He is currently under pre-trial detention.

In the Namangan region, Davlatobod district, a patrol-post officer was caught taking gold jewelry worth 11 million UZS as a bribe after finding narcotics in a citizen’s car, in exchange for not taking action. The officer was dismissed, and a pre-investigation check is ongoing based on collected evidence.

It was noted that since the beginning of 2025, law enforcement agencies have conducted rapid-response measures against nearly 60 officers. As a result, potential violations among 250 officers were prevented. Over 300 officers were involved in incidents related to bribery attempts, with 557 supervisors and officers subjected to disciplinary actions and 479 dismissed from the system.

It is worth noting that earlier, a road-patrol inspector falsely accused an Equinox driver who did not yield to him in the Bukhara region.