A nephew of Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov, who was once tipped as a potential successor to the aging strongman, has been detained on suspicion of operating an organized crime ring. Citing a source at the Fergana Region prosecutor's office, Uznews.net reported today that Akbarali Abdullayev, a son of the first lady's sister, was arrested October 10 on embezzlement, tax evasion and bribery charges. "He is in a detention center in Tashkent at the moment. His arrest warrant has been sanctioned from on high," Uznews.net quoted the source as saying. Abdullayev and his mother Tamara Sobirova, the president’s sister-in-law, are widely believed to control large swathes of the economy in Uzbekistan's Fergana Valley, including industrial giants like the Fergana oil refinery and a cement plant in Kyvasay.In the summer of 2012, Abdullayev reportedly fled Uzbekistan following the arrests of several of his business associates on corruption charges. After Sobirova received guarantees her son was safe, Abdullayev returned in late 2012, Uznews.net said.Prior to that drama, Abdullayev had been mooted, Uznews said, for a seat in parliament's upper chamber, the Senate (where the president has the right to appoint 16 of 100 members), and was sometimes tipped as a potential successor to Karimov.Abdullayev's arrest may offer a vague clue into the autocratic and opaque country's succession struggle. Last month, Karimov's youngest daughter Lola Karimova-Tillayeva told the BBC that her socialite sister Gulnara Karimova's oft-discussed chances of succeeding their father were "slim."