Summary Jamoliddin Kasimov, his girlfriend carried out a wave of robberies, sometimes violently
TASHKENT: (AFP) - A couple of now-jailed serial killers who terrorised Uzbekistan s capital for years at one point bribed police to get one of them out of prison so they could continue their crime spree, a documentary on state television said Thursday.
Shopkeeper Jamoliddin Kasimov and his girlfriend Nargiza Urazova carried out a wave of robberies, sometimes violently, on the homes of 186 elderly women, spreading panic through the capital Tashkent and several other towns between 2009 and 2013.
The couple gained entry to their victims homes by posing as medics, social workers or community organizers. Police arrested Urazova soon after the crimes began, but later released her after taking a $1,500 (1,200 euro) bribe from her boyfriend, according to the documentary.
Police at the time were apparently unaware that the couple was behind several murders. The pair then intensified their crime spree, committing some 20 murders, mostly of elderly people, according to Uzbek authorities, who later arrested them.
In June this year, Kasimov was sentenced to life imprisonment, while Urazova was sentenced to 15 years. Four police officers involved in the first arrest were sentenced to 13 and 14 years in jail. Three officers were still on the run, the program said. The case prompted widespread criticism of the police on independent news websites and social networking sites.
