Nurlan Zhumasultanov, the owner of the defunct airline Bek Air, has been detained and placed in custody in Almaty. He is suspected of involvement in the theft of aircraft engines, one of which was installed on the Fokker 100 that crashed, according to infohub.kz.
Journalist Mikhail Kazachkov reported the detention on his Telegram channel. According to him, the former owner of Bek Air was detained after questioning on September 9. A court authorized his arrest for two months. Zhumasultanov is a suspect in a case under Part 4 of Article 188 of the Criminal Code — theft on an especially large scale. Another person involved in the case was placed under house arrest.
The investigation by the National Security Committee is not directly related to the aviation disaster that occurred in December 2019, when a Bek Air aircraft crashed to the ground during takeoff at Almaty airport. Twelve people died in the crash. However, the tragedy did influence the course of the investigation.
The criminal case was opened over the disappearance of two engines for the Fokker 100 that were stored at Almaty airport. There were no witnesses or video recordings of the theft. However, during the crash investigation, it emerged that one of the stolen engines had been installed on the crashed aircraft.
The case was investigated for several years by officers of the Transport Police Department, including abroad. In 2026, the Main Transport Prosecutor's Office transferred the case to the National Security Committee.
According to the journalist, the National Security Committee concluded that the airline's owners and executives may have been involved in the theft, since one of the stolen engines was on their aircraft. After the former owner of Bek Air was invited for questioning, he was detained.
The Kursiv editorial team has requested confirmation of this information from the National Security Committee and the court.
Recall that in November 2025, the Turксиб District Court of Almaty delivered a verdict in the case of the Bek Air plane crash. Six years have passed since the tragedy. Two deceased pilots — Marat Murtabayev and Meirzhan Muldakulov — were found guilty posthumously.