Drunk cop shoots colleague at Tajikistan airport
Last updated on: 08 October,2018 05:05 pm
The younger policeman's life is "not in danger", a spokesman for the interior ministry said.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan (AFP) - A policeman working at Tajikistan’s main international airport shot his colleague twice with his service pistol in a "drunken quarrel", the interior ministry said Monday.
A spokesman for the ministry told AFP a 34-year-old officer at the Dushanbe International Airport shot his 30-year-old subordinate with a Makarov pistol, widely used by security forces in the ex-Soviet Union.
The incident took place Saturday evening in a room used by police after both men had been drinking alcohol and did not affect the airport’s running, the spokesman added.
The younger policeman’s life is "not in danger" he said, after he was treated in hospital for gunshot wounds to the chest and leg.
"Both officers have been suspended pending an internal investigation," the spokesman said, while the alleged shooter, who was in charge of the airport’s criminal investigation department, was being held in police custody.
Law enforcement in Tajikistan is hampered by low salaries and high levels of corruption.
The Central Asian nation was placed at 161 out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s 2017 Corruption Perceptions Index.
Tajikistan is the poorest country to emerge from the Soviet Union and suffered a five-year civil war that left tens of thousands dead shortly after independence.