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A three-day sweep across Uzbekistan has uncovered more than 120 cases of illegal storage and above-regulated resale of liquefied petroleum gas, with employees of state gas-supply agencies implicated in 39 of those cases. Raids conducted between 19 and 21 October by joint teams from the State Security Service, the Interior Ministry, the Prosecutor-General’s Office, the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the energy inspectorate Uzenergoinspeksiya resulted in the seizure of more than 3,000 gas cylinders containing a combined 13,636 kilograms of liquefied gas, all held as material evidence.
The pattern uncovered was consistent across regions: gas-utility drivers, engineers and guards were diverting cylinders allocated for residential consumers, stockpiling them without documentation and reselling them at prices above the regulated rate.
Regional cases
In Jizzax region, nine separate incidents involved 239 cylinders stored illegally for sale. In one case, a person who had previously held a senior post at the Zomin district gas-supply department was found to have concealed 152 cylinders in a home belonging to a relative.
In the Khovos district of Sirdaryo region, 30 undocumented cylinders were discovered at the home of a gas-supply official. In Samarkand region, a guard at the Urgut district gas-filling station was detained while selling three filled cylinders for 2.5 million soums. In the same region’s Pastdargom district, a resident born in 1972 had purchased 22 cylinders from a district gas-department driver at 70,000 soums each and was reselling them to consumers at 100,000 soums apiece.
In Fergana region’s Qo’shtepa district, an engineer and a plumber employed by the local gas-supply department were found to have kept eight residential cylinders at their own homes for illegal resale. In Surkhandarya region’s Bandixon district, a 39-year-old resident had bought 32 cylinders from a utility driver at 70,000 soums each and was preparing to sell them on at a higher price; a total of 65 cylinders were documented across that region. In Navoiy region’s Xatirchi district, 26 cylinders were removed from a gas-supply driver’s home. Similar violations were identified in the Republic of Karakalpakstan and in Khorezm and Namangan regions.
Ongoing enforcement
Authorities said the joint raids would continue and that legal measures prescribed by law would be applied to those found in breach. Members of the public who encounter illegal activity involving residential gas supplies are directed to call the State Security Service’s short-number hotline, 1520; callers are guaranteed anonymity.