Uzbek authorities have escalated their crackdown on a massive $90 million labor migration syndicate, placing a former top migration official on Interpol’s international wanted list.
Azizbek Toshtemirov, the former chief of the agency’s South Korea representative office, is now the subject of a public Interpol Red Notice. According to the international law enforcement database, the 35-year-old Andijan native faces formal charges of grand fraud.
The Migration Agency’s press service confirmed that Toshtemirov was quietly dismissed from his post in March 2025 following a series of regulatory violations. He had previously led the South Korean branch under the former Agency for External Labor Migration, which was restructured under the Cabinet of Ministers in late 2024.
The international arrest warrant marks a major breakthrough in a sprawling investigation led by the General Prosecutor’s Office Department for Combating Economic Crimes. Investigators recently dismantled what they describe as a highly organized criminal network comprised of corrupt public officials, complicit private recruitment agencies, and third-party handlers.
The syndicate allegedly preyed on vulnerable Uzbeks seeking lucrative employment opportunities in South Korea. While the probe initially began with a $263,500 fraud case involving 35 victims, subsequent investigations exposed a breathtakingly vast extortion racket.
According to prosecutors, the group systematically forced hopeful job seekers to pay illicit premiums ranging from $7,000 to $12,000 per person on top of standard, official government processing fees. In total, the illicit ring is suspected of pocketing nearly $90 million.
The scale of the fraud continues to widen as more victims come forward. In one newly uncovered branch of the investigation, 230 individuals were swindled out of $580,000. In another, a staggering 1,000 victims were collectively defrauded of $5.6 million.
Authorities are currently reviewing formal complaints from an additional 600 individuals who paid the network exorbitant fees but were ultimately left stranded and never sent to South Korea. Law enforcement operations remain ongoing as officials track down remaining assets and accomplices connected to the transnational scam.
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