In Atyrau, passersby tried to prevent a police officer from taking a 19-year-old man to the station, mistaking the incident for a possible kidnapping. The incident occurred on Saturday evening in the central square of the city, reports infohub.kz.
Videos shot by witnesses circulated on social media. The footage shows an unknown man in a dark T-shirt forcibly pushing a young man into a black car. According to eyewitnesses, the young man shouted "help" and resisted.
The police department of Atyrau region gave their version of events: the "kidnapper" was actually a police officer, and the 19-year-old is suspected of involvement in a theft. "The suspect had previously been brought to responsibility for committing offenses. In addition, it was established that he lived in Atyrau without registration at his place of residence. During his delivery, some citizens did not comply with the lawful demands of police officers and obstructed them in the performance of their duties," the department said.
The department also stated that they did not see any violations by police officers in the video. However, they promised to assess the actions of each participant after an investigation. The police urged residents not to jump to conclusions and not to spread unverified information, and on the department's social media they published a fragment of a video showing an unknown young man, similar in build to the detained person, stealing a bicycle parked near an entrance.
Earlier, "Kursiv" reported on how police in the Turkestan region prevented an attempted bride kidnapping.