A mosque under construction among rural homes and farmland in southwest Ohio has become central to local concerns about foreign owned trucking companies, safety violations, and alleged fraud. A Fox News Digital review found substantial ties connecting the Islamic Center of Maineville, trucking businesses, and people identified [1] as current or former Uzbek officials.
The mosque sits roughly one mile north of Maineville’s main intersection in Warren County. The village has about 1,400 residents, and Hamilton Township approved the mosque project in April 2022.
The Islamic Center has spent years posting to roughly 3,600 Telegram members, requesting donations and publicizing partnerships with trucking companies. Screenshots reviewed by Fox News Digital showed donations from locally based companies owned by Uzbeks totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Buraq Limited, a Springboro trucking company associated with Rukhshona Sultonova, donated at least $28,000 through 28 gifts. Company records showed dozens of reported violations, including failures involving English proficiency, electronic logging devices, invalid commercial licenses, expired medical cards, and hours of service.
Premier Trucking Group Inc., owned by Sam Avazov, has received more than 100 violations, including citations for unsafe driving and invalid commercial licenses. The mosque posted a screenshot in September showing a $1,000 donation from the company, which has given at least $25,000.
Foko Logistics LLC, owned by Abubakr Olimov and based in Hilliard, donated $20,000 in one gift. Federal records showed 52 violations across 37 inspections, while 10 of its 24 vehicle inspections ended with an out-of-service designation, a rate of 41.7%.
Those violations included damaged brake hoses, an inoperable tractor protection valve, and severely underinflated tires. Maca Transportation and Services LLC, based in Dayton and owned by Muminkhuja Kholkhujaev, donated at least $7,000 through eight gifts.
Maca accumulated 120 violations across 72 inspections, including an English proficiency failure and false or incomplete hours of service records. Fourteen of its 36 vehicle inspections produced an out-of-service designation, equal to 38.9%.
Phoenix Cargo donated $150,000 and helped organize the broader fundraising effort. The company told Fox News Digital that the donation “represents only a fraction of the mosque’s total construction budget” and that “Phoenix Cargo is not even among the project’s top 100 donors.”
Phoenix Cargo has been cited hundreds of times for safety violations, including English proficiency, electronic logging device tampering, and unsafe driving. The mosque did not respond to a request for comment, but earlier this month said it is “committed to operating responsibly and in accordance with applicable law.”
The mosque’s website says it does “not solicit donations from any foreign government, organization, association, partnership or individual or any agent thereof.” Its Telegram content, however, displayed connections involving former and current Uzbek officials, the mosque project, and local trucking businesses.
Hamilton Township records identify Hamkor Uz Cincinnati Association as owner of the roughly 6.7-acre mosque property. Telegram material described Erkinbay Abdulla as a former Uzbek official who “creates the trucking companies” and identified Sukhrob Norbekov as another former official representing the mosque.
Photos also showed a delegation of six Uzbek representatives who traveled to the United States in April 2025. The group included Ambassador Furqat Sidiqov, regional officials, and three officials from Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Digital Technologies.
Separate posts invited entrepreneurs and trucking company managers to an April 19 technology conference hosted by Hamkor Uz Cincinnati at a Loveland banquet hall. An anonymous local researcher known as Nodawolf said the companies appeared tightly organized and raised questions about whether regulatory gaps were being exploited.
Ohio Republican state Rep. Michelle Teska has introduced legislation strengthening commercial driver licensing requirements, including English language examinations. Teska called the ability to take Ohio driver and commercial license tests in 10 languages “insanity” and said she had witnessed the problem firsthand.
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Hamilton Township police recently joined partner agencies in a targeted commercial vehicle enforcement initiative. Warren County Prosecutor David Fornshell said he had received no information showing laws were broken through mosque fundraising, but said activity within the Uzbek community “warrants at least awareness on the part of law enforcement.”
Census data from 2024 showed roughly 1,500 Uzbekistan-born residents in Greater Cincinnati and about 3,800 across Ohio. Hamkor Uz board member Nodirjon Ernazarov told the Cincinnati Enquirer, “This is our motherland now, from now on.”
Ernazarov said the mosque was being built with help from Uzbeks. He also owns Ray Cargo Corp., which donated tens of thousands of dollars to the mosque and has been cited for numerous violations involving unsafe driving and driver fitness.