Police raid on illegal immigrants

Almaty, 18 November 2008, (Khabar) - In Almaty, police are cracking down on illegal immigrants who are coming to the country in search of work.

Police reports state that illegal immigrants are often connected with other illegal activities starting from staying on the territory of the country and ending with crime. Since the beginning of this year, such immigrants committed 92 crimes in the territory of Almaty including robberies and murders.

Izgilik Shatanov, deputy head Almaty regional Department for Home Affairs'
Department for Migration Police:
- On February the 3rd some citizens of Uzbekistan murdered the Bogomolov
family in the "Teploenergetic" settlement.

Talgat Mashenov who was arrested for absence of registration came from the
city of Nukus. He said that in Uzbekistan, they are easily able to transport
illegal immigrants abroad.

Talgat Mashenov, detainee:
- I came here by bus. I simply paid 7 thousand and I was brought here.

Izgilik Shatanov, deputy head Almaty regional Department for Home Affairs'
Department for Migration Police:
- Citizens of Uzbekistan are searching for different ways to get into the
country and often they don't have migration cards.

In February 2008, the police discovered how illegal immigrants come to
Kazakhstan.

Yerzhan Altayev, deputy head of unit for fighting illegal migration, Almaty
regional police department:
- We arrested 44 citizens of Uzbekistan at the Kapshagai railway station who
tried to cross our border and get to the Russian Federation.

This year, over 110 thousand people came to the Almaty region including 10%
tourists and the remainder being migrant workers.