Lost Property in Uzbekistan: How to Get Things Back

On 1 March 2022 Uzbekistan closed the police “Topilmalar stoli”, the lost-and-found desk run within the Interior Ministry system, and handed the job to the district and city public services centres. Theft still goes to the police, but a forgotten bag now travels a different route: first to whoever runs the vehicle or building, then, as a rule, to a public services centre where it waits for six months.

The first hour matters more than the paperwork

Under the Civil Code, someone who finds a thing inside a building or on transport has to hand it to the person representing that building or vehicle, and that person then takes on the finder’s rights and duties (Article 192). The 2022 regulation adds that such items are, as a rule, passed on by the transport owner to a public services centre. So the fastest recoveries happen before anything reaches an office: note the vehicle, time and direction, and chase the operator that day.

Flights and Tashkent airport

Uzbekistan Airways has published the clearest procedure we found, in an explainer quoting the head of baggage tracing at Uzbekistan Handling (dated May 2022, still live in October 2026). After landing, cabin crew are supposed to check every overhead shelf and under every seat and hand in whatever they find. In Tashkent, go to the Lost and Found counter in the arrivals terminal, or file a request:

Phone: +998 78 140 29 14, which the airline says answers 24/7.
Email: claim@uzairways.com, with a detailed description of the item.
To collect: your passport, your ticket and your boarding pass.
Storage: items left on board are kept at Tashkent airport for 3 months, then sent for disposal.

In other cities the airline points you to its representative office at the airport, and it warns that storage periods there may differ. On another carrier, start with that airline. Our Tashkent airport walkthrough explains which terminal handles which flights.

A checked bag that didn’t arrive is a separate process. Uzbekistan Airways treats it as lost only after 21 calendar days of tracing, counted from the day after it should have reached you; after that you can claim compensation.

Tashkent metro and city buses

The most practical instructions come from Tashtrans.uz, an independent site that has documented Tashkent’s public transport since 2010. It isn’t an official operator page, so treat it as guidance; its metro phone number does match the reception line on the Tashkent Metro’s own website, uzmetro.uz.

If you left something on a metro train

If the doors have just closed on your bag, read the train’s route number off the cab of the rear carriage. Older trains show it on a plate, newer ones on an electronic display. Then tell the station duty officer, any metro employee or the police officer on the platform, giving that route number and which carriage you were in, counted in the direction of travel. If you only notice later, write down the date, time, direction and your exit station, and call the metro on +998 71 241 65 14 for instructions. The metro lines and fares are covered separately.

If you left something on a bus

Note the route number, time, direction and, if you can, the bus’s garage number or registration plate.
Missed the plate? If you paid with a card linked in the ATTO app, or by QR code, ATTO’s trip history shows the bus’s plate number, and payment apps such as Uzum Bank or Click show it on the electronic receipt.
Wait for the next bus on the same route and ask the driver to contact the crew of the bus ahead.
Otherwise call the bus park that runs the route and give the plate, route and time. Tashtrans lists the parks and their contacts.

Tashtrans says handed-in items usually stay with the crew until the end of the shift, then go to the park dispatcher. That’s another reason to pay by card or app: a cash fare leaves no app record of which bus you rode.

Trains: what little is on record

Uzbekistan Railways doesn’t publish a lost-property procedure that we could find. The one documented case is a Kun.uz report from May 2024: an Iranian tourist in Samarkand who believed he had left a purse with his money and documents on a train turned to staff of the Transportation Security Administration and got it back. Our suggestion: go to the station staff at once, ask for transport security, and show your e-ticket with its train, carriage and seat numbers. On the fast Afrosiyob service too, report it from the station you’re in rather than waiting for the return run.

What the law says about finders and rewards

The Civil Code of Uzbekistan covers lost things in Articles 192 to 194. The points that matter to a visitor:

A finder must tell the owner, or anyone known to be entitled to the item, and return it. If the owner can’t be identified, the finder must report the find to the internal affairs (police), a relevant state body or the mahalla (citizens’ self-government) body.
If no one entitled to it turns up within six months of that report, the finder becomes the owner. If the finder declines, it passes to the state.
A finder who returns an item can ask the owner to cover storage and handover costs, and can demand a reward of up to 20% of its value.
For documents and things of value only to the owner, the reward is agreed between the two, or set by a court. A finder who hid the item or didn’t report it gets nothing.

Our take: a thank-you for a returned phone is fair and is what the law anticipates. A demand for 20% of a passport’s “value” isn’t; documents fall under the agreement rule.

Public services centres, my.gov.uz and the “not found” certificate

The working rules sit in Cabinet of Ministers resolution No. 28 of 18 January 2022, last amended in December 2025. You can ask a public services centre (davlat xizmatlari markazi) to search for your own items or those of close relatives: a spouse, children, grandchildren or siblings. You file in person, or online on my.gov.uz, which needs a OneID login. A visitor without Uzbek ID may find the in-person route simpler; we couldn’t confirm how OneID registration works for short-stay foreigners, so check at the centre.

What happens next, according to the regulation:

Your request is posted in the “Topilmalar” search system for two months, then closes automatically if nothing turns up. Reports from 2022 described this as a 60-day search.
Items handed in are stored at a centre for six months and appear in a public register.
To collect, you show ID plus proof the item is yours: photos showing its distinguishing marks, or a copy if it’s a document. Without that proof the centre refuses; rival claimants are told to settle it in court.
Identity documents unclaimed for a month are sent back to the body that issued them.

If the search fails, you can ask for a certificate that the item wasn’t found, the obvious document to give an insurer. Its rules now sit in the government’s regulation on issuing certificates (resolution No. 612 of 2023, this annex reworded in December 2025): you must have filed the loss report first, the fee is 5% of the base calculation amount whether you apply at a centre or online, and the certificate is issued in real time. These rules exclude things lost through a crime, so theft needs a police report instead. Sputnik reported in 2022 that the search itself is free. Check the current base amount (last checked: October 2026). Read what your policy asks for; our notes on insuring an Uzbekistan trip are a starting point.

The certificate rules accept a representative with a notarised power of attorney, but the lost-property regulation doesn’t describe a friend collecting an item for a foreigner who has flown home. If that’s likely, ask the centre before you leave.

Passports, theft and a five-minute checklist

A lost passport is your embassy’s job, not the lost-property system’s. Theft goes to the police on 102, or the unified emergency number 112. The UK government’s Uzbekistan advice also lists a 24/7 tourist hotline, 1173, with English-speaking operators who can point you to local help. Which body handles which kind of complaint is set out in our tourist complaints guide. Before you travel:

Photograph your bags, phone, camera and their serial numbers; the centres return items against photos of distinguishing marks.
Put a backup contact number on your phone’s lock screen. Tashtrans notes that many finders try to return phones.
Pay Tashkent buses by card or app, not cash, so you have a trip record.
Keep boarding passes and train e-tickets until the trip is over.
Write the airline and metro numbers above on paper too, in case the phone is what you lose.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I report lost property in Uzbekistan?

Start with the operator: the airline, the metro, the bus park or station staff. Unclaimed items usually reach a public services centre, which has handled lost property since 1 March 2022. You can file a search request at a centre in person or on my.gov.uz with a OneID login. Report theft to the police on 102 or 112.

How long does Tashkent airport keep lost items?

Uzbekistan Airways says items left on board its aircraft are stored at Tashkent airport for three months and then disposed of. Call +998 78 140 29 14 (24/7) or email claim@uzairways.com. To collect, bring your passport, ticket and boarding pass. Storage at its offices in other cities may differ, so check locally.

Do I have to pay a reward to someone who returns my things?

Under Article 194 of the Civil Code, a finder who returns an item can demand a reward of up to 20% of its value, plus the costs of keeping and handing it over. For documents the amount is agreed or set by a court. A finder who hid the item gets nothing.

Can I get a document for my insurer if my item isn't found?

Yes. If the public services centre search finds nothing, you can request a certificate that the item wasn’t found. You must have filed the loss report first, and the fee is 5% of the base calculation amount at a centre or online. Check the current base amount, and ask whether your insurer also wants a police report.

What should I do if I leave something on a Tashkent metro train?

Note the route number on the rear carriage’s cab and your carriage, then tell the station duty officer, a metro employee or the platform police officer. If you notice later, call the metro on +998 71 241 65 14 with the date, time, direction and your exit station.