A court in Uzbekistan's Uchtepa district has sentenced 14 individuals to prison terms ranging from 3 to 6.5 years for extortion at a car market, as reported by Kun.uz correspondent who attended the hearing. The group allegedly installed equipment on customers' cars without permission and then demanded money.

According to investigation and court materials, the criminal group would install devices on vehicles without the owners' consent and subsequently attempt to extort money. In one case, they installed equipment worth $600 at market prices but demanded $13,300 from the client. When the client objected, they reportedly threatened him.

In another instance, the group installed car parts without consent and demanded three times the market price. They took the car keys and pressured the owner to pay 15 million soums. Additionally, they took 70 million soums from two other citizens for installing additional equipment but failed to deliver on their promise.

The court found the defendants guilty of extortion. Some of them, being repeat offenders, will serve their sentences in strict-regime colonies, while others will be sent to general-regime colonies.

Source: kun.uz