Incident

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Incident

Gunmen seize 240 tones of products from Azerbaijanis in Dagestan

23 November 2009 12:52 (UTC +04:00)

Shahin Shahverdiyev said the date plums from various regions of Azerbaijan were brought to Khachmaz region and sent to Dagestan. As usual, businessman from Khachmaz Elshad Hasanov helped them to take the date plums to Dagestan.
â€œWe handed over the date plums to Elshad, he loaded the vans with the goods. Later, we left for Derbent to receive the date plums. Derbent Railway Office did not allow us approach the vans. They told us that Elshad Hasanov owes them $100,000,â€ he said.
Shahverdiyev said they had informed Derbent law-enforcement bodies about the incident and within an hour the territory was surrounded by gunmen.
â€œWe informed Dagestan intelligence bodies about it. But gunmen arrived at the site. The parliamentarian of Derbent was also among them. Later, we heard that the lorries loaded with date plums were sent to various cities of Russia,â€ he sad.
Declinable owner Elshad Hasanov told APA that 240 tons of dates were confiscated in Dagestan. He said he carried on this business for long time and the dates were legally transported from Azerbaijan to Russia. â€œI carry on this business for long years. I assist the Azerbaijanis to transport their products from Azerbaijan to Russia quickly. I transport tons of goods to Dagestan every day and pay duty for that. I had 12 000 dollars of debts to Dagestan, but later I paid it off. Now they have debts to me. They pretext my debts and misappropriated six carriages of dates of Azerbaijanis. I informed the Dagestanâ€™s law-enforcement bodies, as well member of the parliament about the incident and asked them to examine the documents on the borders to make clear who has a debt. Member of the parliament from Derbent agreed to come to Khachmaz, but he didnâ€™t. Then I heard that armed people threatened the owners and confiscated datesâ€. Hasanov said they asked Russian law-enforcement bodies, presidents of Dagestan and Azerbaijan, Interior Ministry of Azerbaijan, General Prosecutorâ€™s Office, Ministry of National Security, Ministry of Transport, as well as Human Rights Commissioner Elmira Suleymanova.

Now 14 owners, whose 240 tons dates were confiscated, are waiting on the Azerbaijani-Russian borders for official response.