Zhanaozen, 19 October. Kazakhstan's National Security Committee (KNB), together with the Interior Ministry, has stopped a criminal group in Mangystau region which, according to the KNB, tried to provoke mass protests by oil and gas workers in order to obtain additional funding from Ozenmunaigas JSC (Atameken Business, Vlast.kz).
According to the KNB, members of the group acted in collusion with the management of one of the contractor companies. Timely action by the security forces, the committee said, prevented possible casualties, riots and looting (Atameken Business).
The KNB did not say how many people were detained, what charges they face or which contractor company is involved. Lada.kz, which first reported the detentions, citing a source, says that if their demands had been refused, the group could have used the oil workers' protest mood to repeat the events of 2011 (Lada.kz).
Background: According to Lada.kz, Ozenmunaigas was the customer of the contractor's work in this scheme; the outlet recalls the 2011 events in Zhanaozen in connection with the threat of riots and looting mentioned in the statement (Lada.kz, Vlast.kz).
List of sources used: Atameken Business, Vlast.kz, Lada.kz
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
