Turkmenistan’s only mobile operator, Altyn Asyr, enjoys an undisputed monopoly despite frequent complaints about poor service and exorbitant prices. Though its shareholders are not publicly named, reporters learned that it is run by a member of the president’s family.

A U.K.-based firm that exported petroleum and chemical products from Turkmen state oil and gas plants was dissolved less than a month after reporters uncovered it had at one point been controlled by a nephew of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov.

One has no website. Another can’t be reached by phone. But these foreign companies are selling the output of some of Turkmenistan’s major fertilizer and petroleum facilities. And offshore documents reveal their secret ties to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov’s nephews.

Religious proscriptions against internet usage in Turkmenistan, Spain’s drug-smuggling grandmother, and beef between a trio of Swedish rappers that saw one of them kidnapped -- welcome to OCCRP’s oddities section, your irregular roundup of all things weird and criminal.

As Turkmen citizens stand in long lines for scarce, government-subsidized food, members of the ruling family are living large. For the first time, reporters found documentary proof of how connections to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov can mean lucrative insider deals.

Global fashion brands have been yet again pressed to avoid cotton from Turkmenistan after a new investigation emerged last week revealing how last year’s harvest was once more mired in forced labour, corruption and persecution of activists, Ecotextile News reported.

While ordinary people inTurkmenistan, one of the world’s most closed-off societies, are not expected to own luxurious cars, the local elite, mostly relatives of the country’s President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, are excused.

Although the government of Turkmenistan hasn’t confirmed any cases of coronavirus, many senior officials in the eastern Lebap Region aren’t taking any chances: They moved to a local nature reserve along with their families to avoid the outbreak, local media reported on Monday.

Eritrea tops the list of the most censored countries in the world, where sophisticated digital censorship and surveillance have been added to “more traditional methods to silence media,” theCommittee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a special report.

Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan have joined the worst category in the US State Department’s blacklist of countries that have failed to combat human trafficking. 

The Swedish retail giant IKEA has been reported to the US Customs Department for importing duvet covers made in Turkmenistan.

By Ola Westerberg, TT News Agency, Sweden

Duvet covers and pillow shams sold by IKEA are produced in Turkmenistan, a country which has been compared to North Korea because of its seclusion and tight control over its citizens.

Leaked email exchanges indicate Hacking Team gave permission for its spyware to be ‘presented and promoted’ to the secret police of Turkmenistan.

A new report places Azerbaijan in a four-way tie with Russia, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as the most corrupt countries in Europe and Central Asia.