SSS detains Samarkand resident who promised to illegally send a family of five to the U.S. for $150,000

According to the press service of the State Security Service (SSS), officers of the SSS and the General Prosecutor’s Office in Tashkent foiled the activities of an Uzbek citizen and a foreign national who attempted to unlawfully facilitate the migration of individuals to the United States in exchange for large sums of money.

The Samarkand resident, born in 1992, promised a foreign citizen and his family – a total of five individuals – to arrange employment-based relocation to the U.S. via Turkey, charging $30,000 per person, amounting to $150,000 in total. The suspect was apprehended while accepting a $15,000 down payment, allegedly to process visa documents through contacts in government offices.

In a separate case, a foreign national born in 2004 gained the trust of another foreigner and claimed he could provide a counterfeit British passport and arrange travel to the U.S. through Turkey and the UAE for $25,000. He was arrested while receiving half of the payment – $12,500.

During a search of the suspect’s residence, authorities discovered forged passports and ID cards, which were seized as physical evidence.

Criminal cases have been initiated in both instances under Article 168, Part 4, Clause “a” (fraud on an especially large scale), and Article 211, Part 3, Clause “a” (offering a bribe on an especially large scale), in conjunction with Article 28 (forms of complicity in a crime) of the Criminal Code.