Tashkent time is - 
11 January 2010
13:13 -
Israeli nabbed in Tashkent with M16 bullets in her bag
Tamar Yagudayev, the Israeli who has been detained since Thursday in Tashkent Airport after security officials found an M16 magazine with 12 bullets in her backpack, told Haaretz yesterday that the cartridge belongs to a friend who lent her the bag, and that she has "never been to the army" and "doesn't even know what a magazine looks like."
According to Yagudayev, she and her boyfriend Yaniv Niazov, 25, decided to celebrate the end of his army service by taking "a trip to remember" to Thailand, and chose a cheap flight via Tashkent.
Yagudayev has been held since Thursday night, when the cartridge was found in her backpack.
"It's a bag I borrowed from a friend of mine. She simply forgot the cartridge was there," Yagudayev said. Yagudayev put her clothes into the bag and wasn't aware that it had side pockets.
"We checked the bag - it went through an X-ray machine and no one saw anything, so it was loaded into the plane," she said.
"In Tashkent, they took me to the bag, pulled out the cartridge and asked me what it was. I told them I had no idea, because I didn't go to the army."
Israel's ambassador in Uzbekistan visited Yagudayev, and said he had asked the foreign ministry to approach the local government on her behalf. "I hope it ends quickly," she said. "I could come home soon, or I could stay here for another three months and be put on trial." // Ha'aretz
According to Yagudayev, she and her boyfriend Yaniv Niazov, 25, decided to celebrate the end of his army service by taking "a trip to remember" to Thailand, and chose a cheap flight via Tashkent.
Yagudayev has been held since Thursday night, when the cartridge was found in her backpack.
"It's a bag I borrowed from a friend of mine. She simply forgot the cartridge was there," Yagudayev said. Yagudayev put her clothes into the bag and wasn't aware that it had side pockets.
"We checked the bag - it went through an X-ray machine and no one saw anything, so it was loaded into the plane," she said.
"In Tashkent, they took me to the bag, pulled out the cartridge and asked me what it was. I told them I had no idea, because I didn't go to the army."
Israel's ambassador in Uzbekistan visited Yagudayev, and said he had asked the foreign ministry to approach the local government on her behalf. "I hope it ends quickly," she said. "I could come home soon, or I could stay here for another three months and be put on trial." // Ha'aretz
