Azeri Police Official Arrested For Involvement In Drugs

BAKU -- Azerbaijan's National Security Ministry (MNS) has detained a police official in Ganja after drugs were confiscated in the country's second-largest city.

The ministry said 16 kilos of narcotics were found in Ganja and that drug dealers there worked for police Major Elsevar Nabiyev, who was arrested.

Ganja city police chief Rasim Musayev told RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service that Nabiyev was handed over to the MNS for investigation.

Nabiyev's arrest is viewed by as part of a feud between the MNS and the Interior Ministry.

Eyyub Karimov, an expert on legal issues, says the MNS has recently undertaken a number of operations showing police involvement in organized crime.

He said the MNS does not trust the Interior Ministry to investigate such crimes because so many police and Interior Ministry officials are corrupt.