KHUJAND, Tajikistan -- The whereabouts of a Tajik citizen detained by the Uzbek military last month remains unknown, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
Colonel Sharif Nazarov, the police chief in Tajikistan's northern Sughd Province, said Hamzaali Khidirov was reportedly detained after crossing into Uzbekistan during a hunting trip.
Nazarov said the Uzbek authorities have not provided any information about Khidirov.
But villagers in Sarvak, which borders on the Pop district of Uzbekistan's Namangan Province, told RFE/RL on January 10 that a group of Uzbek border guards and officers in military uniforms detained Khidirov at his home on December 23.
They said the men searched his home and confiscated a hunting gun allegedly belonging to Khidirov's friend in Uzbekistan.
Iqbol Nuriddinov, a relative of Khidirov, told RFE/RL that Khidirov is a shepherd who sometimes goes on hunting trips with a friend who lives in Uzbekistan.
Nuriddinov said that on December 23 Khidirov was detained after returning home from such a hunting trip.
He said the family wants to find out where Khidirov is but are afraid to travel to Uzbekistan and make inquiries