BISHKEK. Dec 16 (Interfax) - Eight members of international Islamist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir have been detained in southern Kyrgyzstan, the Interior Ministry said on Saturday.
"Investigative and search operations have resulted in the exposure of an organized extremist religious group that pursued its activities in the regions of Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken and the city of Osh," the ministry said in a statement.
Police and local branches of the State Committee for National Security spent several months spying on the alleged Hizb ut-Tahrir group, the statement said.
"On December 12, the abovementioned group's scheme of activities, its sources of supplies of extremist literature and liaison agents were found out, and the eight most active members of the extremist group were detained," the ministry said.
Two of the detainees were residents of Osh city, the others lived in the regions of Osh, Jalal-Abad and Batken.
"Among he detainees is the regional leader of the extremist organization, the so-called 'amir' for the city ad region of Osh, who has repeatedly been on trial and is currently serving a sentence at a penal colony settlement [low-security prison] in the city of Osh. As a convict, he continued to agitate among colony inmates," the ministry said.
"Large amounts of extremist religious materials, including new publications of Hizb ut-Tahrir, copying and multiplying equipment, and electronic media were seized from the detainees," it said.