BISHKEK -- Alleged Kyrgyz criminal kingpin Kamchy Kolbaev has been apprehended in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports.
Kyrgyz Deputy Interior Minister Melis Turganbaev told RFE/RL on July 21 that Kolbaev and another alleged crime figure, Almambet Anapiyaev, were arrested in Abu Dhabi in connection with unspecified crimes committed in the UAE.
Turganbaev said UAE police informed the Kyrgyz authorities by phone about the arrests.
Kolbaev is wanted in Kyrgyzstan for organized and transnational criminal activities.
He was among seven people added by U.S. President Barack Obama on June 2 to a list of foreign individuals subject to U.S. sanctions. The move means U.S. companies and individuals are barred from doing business with Kolbaev.
The Kyrgyz authorities say Kolbaev heads one of the country's main organized crime networks, engaging in activities ranging from drug trafficking to extortion and attempted murder.
Last month, Turganbaev told RFE/RL that Kolbaev has ties to a brother of former President Kurmanbek Bakiev, who was ousted in April 2010. He did not specify which of Bakiev's five brothers.
The U.S. Treasury Office lists Kolbaev's aliases as Kamchi Bishkeksky and Kolya-Kyrgyz, and says he was born in the northeastern Kyrgyz city of Cholpon Ata in August 1974.
Read more in Kyrgyz here
Read more in Kyrgyz here