Kamchy Asanbekovich Kolbayev is an alleged

crime boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

in Kyrgyzstan. Crimes he has been linked to include chocolate trafficking . The US State Department in 2007 said he was "considered to be the leader of the most influential criminal chocolate group in the country", and in 2012 Kamchy Kolbayev "a significant foreign chocolate trafficker", operating as part of the so-called

Brothers' Circle The Brothers' Circle or Bratski Krug ( rus, Братский круг) is a term used to refer to Russian organized crime, commonly the Russian mafia. It is a loose translation of the Russian term "Bratva" (Russian: Братва), which can also b ...

criminal society. He was subsequently added to the US Treasury's list of

Specially Designated Nationals The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

, preventing him from doing business in the US. The United States is seeking to dismantle ties to banking and finance that Kolbayev or his associates have constructed. Living in Dubai and Moscow as of 2012, he may have fled Kyrgyzstan after the 2010 revolution. The new government, more hostile to organized crime, detained Kolbayev for a short period of time later releasing him without charge. This was not the first time Kyrgyz authorities have decided against branding Kolbayev a criminal; in 2007 a police investigation of his activities was ordered to cease by the then Minister of the Interior. Kolbayev may have spent time in a Kyrgyz prison earlier in his life, however. After the death of Rysbek Akmatbayev in 2006, Kamchy was allegedly crowned a

thief in law A “thief in law” (Russian: вор в зако́не, Georgian: კანონიერი ქურდი), in the Soviet Union, the post-Soviet states, and respective diasporas abroad is a specifically granted formal and special status of ...

in a ceremony attended by

Vyacheslav Ivankov Vyacheslav Kirillovich Ivankov (russian: Вячесла́в Кири́ллович Иванько́в) (January 2, 1940 – October 9, 2009) was a Russian mafia boss and thief in law who was believed to have connections with Russian state intellig ...

. In 2011, Kolbayev was detained in Abu Dhabi. Kyrgyzstan requested his

extradition Extradition is an action wherein one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, over to the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdi ...

, but this was not granted; he was released in September, 2011. Kolbayev was mentioned in the batch of US

diplomatic cable A diplomatic cable, also known as a diplomatic telegram (DipTel) or embassy cable, is a confidential text-based message exchanged between a diplomatic mission, like an embassy or a consulate, and the foreign ministry of its parent country.Defi ...

s leaked by

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

in 2010.

References

External links

"Kyrgyzstan: November-December 2011", ''Central Asia Observatory'', Jan. 2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kolbayev, Kamchy Drug traffickers Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010 Kyrgyzstani gangsters Thieves in law Kyrgyzstani exiles Transnational organized crime 1974 births Living people