Kyrgyzstan said Thursday it had detained a man the United States calls a major force in Eurasian drug trafficking as the new Kyrgyz authorities pledged to fight organised crime. Kyrgyzstan's state committee for national security said Kamchibek Kolbayev had been detained as part of an investigation into organised criminal groups. The State Department has offered a $1 million reward for information that can help disrupt Kolbayev's network. Kolbayev's group is "part of the broader Brothers' Circle transnational criminal organization composed of leaders and members of several Eurasian criminal groups," according to the US State Department. Kyrgyzstan's state committee said its investigation was "aimed at obtaining details of the criminal activities of (Kolbayev) and related persons from the criminal space". Media reports said the alleged kingpin was arrested at a gym. Kolbayev has long been regarded as operating with impunity in the ex-Soviet Central Asian country. He was most recently released from jail in 2014 after spending less than two years there on an extortion conviction that was reduced from five-and-a-half years. New acting leader Sadyr Japarov has angrily denied suggestions in media reports that he has ties to organised crime, including to Kolbayev, who hails from the same region as him. Japarov was appointed prime minister last week and also inherited presidential powers after Sooronbay Jeenbekov became the third Kyrgyz leader since independence in 1991 to resign over unrest. At the beginning of the month Japarov was serving jail time on a hostage-taking charge dating back to an incident that took place during a 2013 rally for the nationalization of a key gold mine. But he shot to power after protests over a disputed vote morphed into clashes between police and demonstrators. In a national address last week Japarov, pledged criminal groups would no longer "dictate terms" and pressure businesses into paying protection money. He also promised to bring to justice a former customs official who along with Kolbayev is viewed as one of the ex-Soviet Central Asian country's most important power brokers. The former official, Rayimbek Matraimov, was released under house arrest on Tuesday, almost immediately after being detained. The national security committee said Matraimov had begun paying damages of more than $20 million to the state. New parliamentary elections are set to take place in the country on December 20. tol-cr/as/lc