BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz officials say 12 active members, including four leaders, of the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group have been detained in the southern Jalal-Abad region.
The Kyrgyz State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said in a statement on May 4 that the suspects had been apprehended three days earlier in the town of Kerben.
The UKMK statement said a probe has been launched into charges of organizing and financially supporting an extremist group.
According to UKMK, electronic devices and mobile phones containing information about the financial activities of the banned group were confiscated from the suspects.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global organization based in London that seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate but says its methods for reaching that goal are peaceful.
Kyrgyzstan banned the group in 2003, branding its supporters as "extremists."