He is married and raising three sons. He was born on November 13, 1989, in the village of Kalinin in the Joosh rural district of the Kara-Suu region of Osh province. He is the eldest of three children and has a younger brother and sister.
According to him, the fight against crime and its prevention requires colossal effort and is often associated with human sacrifices.
School Injustice
Kurmanbek Kanybek uulu's path to law enforcement began in his native village of Kalinin. He was outraged by the injustice in society and at school, and there were moments when he could not achieve justice. That is why he chose this difficult path.
“You could say that it was the distortions in society and at school that led me to law enforcement. Now, I hope no one will take offense. In labor classes, teachers often did not accept the products I made and said, ‘Bring something else from home; we will work on it in class.’ I often asked my parents, ‘Why aren’t they satisfied with what I have?’ But my parents stopped me, saying, ‘Don’t argue with the teacher, don’t do this, don’t do that,’” he recounted.
Away from Home and Parents...
2003. Autumn. The future police officer makes a fateful choice and sets off on a long journey from his homeland. For Kurmanbek, who had never been far from his parents and homeland, this was not easy.
“After finishing 8th grade, I decided to enroll in a military educational institution. My parents found a military lyceum in Bishkek. At that time, I didn’t even think about how they study there and what the discipline is like. The desire to pursue my dream led me there. At that time, it was called the National Military Lyceum named after Suvorov. I remember the first days as if it were now: strict military discipline, early rises, exercises. There were no parents nearby to say, ‘Eat, do this or that.’ If you didn’t eat, you stayed hungry. You had to fight for everyday life on your own. I think the upbringing in the military lyceum shaped my views and prepared me for independent life, as well as strengthened my academic preparation. The chemistry teacher was very strict: if you came unprepared, she would give you ‘-1’; if you answered three lessons in a row, she would give you three ‘+’s. No one received a 4 or 5 from her; the maximum was a 3. There was another incident: 10–15 days after I enrolled. We were standing in formation, and my parents came to visit me, shouting from the yard: ‘Kurmanbek!’ Out of joy, I ran to them. When I was three meters away from my parents, the commander shouted, ‘Stop!’ I stopped, out of breath. Then came the command ‘Back in formation!’ I barely held back my tears. After that, my mom said she wouldn’t let me study there — the rules were too strict. But my father insisted: ‘Let him get used to discipline.’ I wanted to continue my studies myself, so I stayed at the lyceum,” Kurmanbek shared.
Ministry of Internal Affairs Academy
2007. Kurmanbek faced the choice of university. He did not abandon his childhood dream and, after graduating from the military lyceum, enrolled in the Academy of the Ministry of Internal Affairs named after Ergash Aliyev.
“It was not difficult to get into the academy. Unlike other school graduates, I had already gone through military discipline and was well-prepared physically. I passed the exams easily. After the lyceum, studying at the academy was straightforward. I graduated in 2012,” he noted.
Sverdlovsk District and Crime
In the autumn of 2012, Kurmanbek was assigned as an investigator to the Sverdlovsk District Department of Internal Affairs in Bishkek — one of the most crime-ridden areas.
“The district was large, and there were many crimes. There were 38 investigators, but even that was not enough. The district included the markets ‘Dordoy,’ ‘Madina,’ ‘Alamudun,’ and the microdistrict Vostok-5. The work schedule was very heavy: sometimes I would leave in the morning and return only at dawn. I worked like that for three years — until the end of 2014,” he recounted.
Osh
At the end of 2014, due to family circumstances, Kurmanbek moved to Osh and became an investigator at the Suleiman-Too police station.
“After the Sverdlovsk district, the work here seemed easier. I was often entrusted with serious crimes and shared my experience with young colleagues. The team was good; they always supported me,” he noted.
Main Investigative Directorate
2015. While working at the Suleiman-Too police station, Kurmanbek unexpectedly received a call. At that moment, the investigative department for the southern region of the main investigative directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs needed an investigator, and the management contacted Kurmanbek.
“The duty officer at the Suleiman-Too district police department received a call. It was the head of the investigative department for the southern region of the main investigative directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Chynarbek Andarbekovich. When I picked up the phone, he asked, ‘Are you Kurmanbek Kanybek uulu?’ I replied, ‘Yes.’ Then he said, ‘Will you work at the GSU?’ I was taken aback because I thought, where could they be inviting me to the main investigative directorate, and I asked again, ‘Are you really saying this?’ He replied, ‘I’m serious; come on over.’
Important Material Evidence: A Bullet from a Traumatic Weapon
While working in the main investigative directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the south, he solved a major robbery case. The suspects were four men connected to the organized crime group of Kamchy Kolbaev.
“At that time, while working in the main investigative directorate, four young men were detained. They were suspected of robbing a citizen who worked at one of the currency exchange points in the Kara-Suu district of Osh province. The events unfolded as follows. The criminals, hiding their faces, took the currency dealer to the Chiyirchik pasture by car. They brought with them a crowbar and shovels, forced him to dig a hole, threatening to ‘bury him alive,’ and then took the money. Approximately 500,000 soms and 15,000 dollars were stolen. Initially, the victim was afraid to file a complaint, but he eventually came forward. After that, the criminal investigation officers brought me the four suspects, and the investigation was entrusted to me.
When I started interrogating them, they claimed, ‘We didn’t do it.’ These were people who had committed crimes multiple times and were already accustomed to interrogations. I then questioned the victim, and he recounted: ‘They put a bag over my head, put me in a Honda Fit car, and took me to the Chiyirchik pasture.’ He couldn’t remember much but noted that he was indeed taken in a Honda Fit car. The thing is, on the way, when they put the bag over his head, he heard a loud bang.
The situation was complicated: the suspects did not admit their guilt. They were brought in by the criminal investigation officers, and now it was necessary to prove that they had committed the crime. During the interrogation, I found out that none of them owned a car and asked what phone numbers they used. It turned out that before committing the crime, they had communicated with an unknown person using one number. This was the owner of that very car. I called him, found out that he was the owner of the Honda Fit, and, introducing myself, said, ‘You work as a taxi driver; we have your belongings, including a wallet,’ — thus, I tricked him into coming. He arrived, and I interrogated him. When I asked, ‘Who did you give the car to?’ he named one of the four detained men. He said that the latter promised to return the car in an hour but ended up disappearing for a whole day.
At that moment, I remembered the victim’s words about a shot being fired in the car, and we conducted an inspection of the vehicle. The inspection took place in the presence of the car owner, two witnesses, and the suspects’ lawyer. During the inspection, I noticed a hole in the back of the driver’s seat. Upon checking, it turned out that there was a bullet from a traumatic weapon there. This bullet became important material evidence for us, thanks to which the crime was solved. The bullet was seized with the involvement of experts. The suspects had a traumatic weapon, and this bullet turned out to be fired from it. Based on this evidence, the case was sent to court. Ultimately, they received their punishment,” Kurmanbek recounted.
Working on the Work of Investigators
K. Kanybek uulu, while working in the investigative department for the southern region of the main investigative directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, was without work for about a month during staff reductions. After a month, he got a job as an investigator in the control and methodological department of the Osh region police department.
“There, you consider complaints and appeals received against investigators. If they need help, you assist them, advising young investigators on how to properly conduct investigations. In 2017, I got married, and my salary became insufficient. There were times when I didn’t even have money for the trip from Kara-Suu to Osh. Then, due to family circumstances, I resigned and went to earn money. I worked a total of five years in Russia and Europe, built a house, and created conditions for my family,” he shared.
At the end of 2024, Kurmanbek returned from migration and decided to return to service. He participated in a competition announced by the president, successfully passed the exams, and got a job as a district police officer at the Suleiman-Too police station in the city of Osh.
“After six months of working as a district officer at the Suleiman-Too police station, the management offered me, ‘Don’t you want to move to the investigation?’ I am currently working as an investigator in the control and methodological unit of the investigative department of the Osh city police department. I supervise the investigators of the Ak-Buura police department, assist them, and facilitate the investigation of cases,” he said.
When We Prevented the Robbery of Hasan the Butcher
During Kurmanbek’s service at the Suleiman-Too police station of the Osh city police department, he managed to prevent the robbery of a butcher who was engaged in wholesale meat sales in the western microdistrict of Osh.
“In 2015, when I was working at the Suleiman-Too police station, such an incident occurred. In the ‘Western’ microdistrict, there was a butcher named Hasan, who was engaged in wholesale meat sales. To rob him, four young men came from Bishkek. One of them turned out to be the butcher’s cousin. He provided his accomplices with information that Hasan always had a lot of money. Upon arriving in Osh, they observed Hasan for 15–20 days. During this time, they ran out of money. They were staying in a hotel in Osh. To obtain funds, they began robbing people: stealing phones from some and openly robbing others. When they robbed another person, he immediately reported it to the police. The police officers responded quickly, began the pursuit, and detained two of them. Through these two, the other accomplices were also detained. It turned out they were staying at the ‘Alai’ hotel. During the arrest, toy weapons and masks were seized. Their phones contained video recordings showing when and where the butcher left his house, when he went to the livestock market, and when he returned home, as well as which room in his house contained the safe with money. Thus, they were detained, and a serious crime was prevented. If we hadn’t acted in time, they would have robbed the butcher of a large sum,” he recounted.
