It said Arziqulov and Daminov promised their compatriots good jobs in Russia and took 320,000 soums (about US$220) from each of them to pay for transport fare. However the fraudsters smuggled the eight people into Kazakhstan on 16 April 2008, the newspaper reported, quoting one of the victims.

Having worked for four months in Kazakhstan, the unfortunate people came back empty handed, the newspaper said, adding that the man for whom they worked in Kazakhstan refused to pay them saying that Boliboy Daminov had taken all their money.

The newspaper report said that the Uzbek citizens were deported from Kazakhstan on 5 August 2008.