Weapons lost in "Bloody January" incident found in Kazakhstan

In Kazakhstan, another portion of weapons lost after the January 2022 unrest has been seized. According to the National Security Committee, during September, more than 60 weapons and over four thousand rounds of ammunition were confiscated in 12 regions of the country during search operations.

According to reports, searches were carried out in the cities of Almaty and Shymkent, as well as in the Atyrau, Zhambyl, Karaganda, Kyzylorda, Turkistan, West Kazakhstan, and Almaty regions, as well as in the Ulytau, Jetisu, and Abai regions.

Among the recovered weapons were three Kalashnikov assault rifles, 16 pistols, 43 hunting rifles, four grenades, and thousands of rounds of ammunition. In addition, the identities of individuals who stole about ten weapons in January 2022 were established. However, the committee did not disclose where and under what circumstances the weapons were found.

It should be noted that over the past three years, law enforcement agencies have occasionally discovered and confiscated some of the weapons and ammunition stolen during the “Bloody January” events. For example, in April of this year, the Ministry of Internal Affairs reported the confiscation of several hundred weapons, but it could not confirm that all of them had been stolen from gun shops during the unrest.

According to official reports, since 2022, the National Security Committee has confiscated a total of 608 weapons. However, the Ministry of Internal Affairs previously reported that the fate of more than 1,700 stolen weapons remains unknown.

As a reminder, in January 2022, mass protests took place in Almaty and several other cities in Kazakhstan due to an increase in liquefied gas prices. In Almaty, these protests turned into riots involving armed people, and clashes between demonstrators and security forces were reported. According to official data, 238 people died in those tragic days.