Four heavy duty trucks make scheduled trips on a regular basis between Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan by crossing the border checkpoint “Farab-avtodorozhny” (“Alat-avtodorozhny” on the Uzbek side).
Supporting documents for these vehicles, with the comment “forbidden for inspection” are signed by the President’s elder sister Gulnabat Dovletova.The signature is confirmed by the stamp of Turkmenistan’s National Red Crescent Society which she heads.
However, according to correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan”, the society does not own any heavy duty trucks.
Neither Turkmen customs officers nor their NSM supervisor are aware of what cargo the vehicles transport to Uzbekistan and back. On the way back to the administrative border between Lebap and Akhal velayats the trucks are escorted by road traffic police officers from Lebap pursuant to the instructions of the NSM officer.
According to a customs officer at “Farab-avtodorozhny” checkpoint, a supervisor from the NSM has the right to search any vehicle crossing the border.However, he does not approach these four vehicles and prevents all customs officers or border patrols from inspecting the trucks.
When, in the absence of the supervisor, a newly-appointed customs officer decided to search one of the aforementioned trucks he was barred from doing so and was subsequently severely reprimanded, degraded in rank and transferred to Gazachag.
It is most likely that Dovletova is not the only one who takes advantage of going through passport control unhampered.
According to the sources of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” in Dashoguz, via the border checkpoint “Dashoguz avtodorozhny” (“Shavar-avtodorozhny” on the Uzbek side) heavy duty trucks with Akhal and Balkanabat registration plates export expensive Komatsu construction equipment which had been previously owned by private construction companies, including overseas-based developers.
Apart from that, cement and other construction materials are exported to Uzbekistan despite the shortage of cement in Turkmenistan.