Briefing of the Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs - Aleksandre Darakhvelidze
We would like to inform the public regarding the unprecedented scale of international drug trafficking detected by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia.
Law enforcement officers have seized 298 kilograms of “heroin” drug, the value of which on the so-called black market approximately amounts to 85 million GEL.
A Georgian citizen has been arrested on charges of illegal purchase and storage of a particularly large amount of drugs and illegal import of narcotic to Georgia.
The investigation established that the truck, which, according to customs documentation, was loaded with refractory fire bricks, entered Georgia from the Republic of Armenia through the customs checkpoint "Guguti" and was supposed to depart to Europe from Batumi.
During a detailed inspection of the truck's trailer in the territory of the customs clearance zone, law enforcement officers discovered 600 plastic containers imitating bricks.
The imitation of bricks contained 298 kilograms of the narcotic drug "heroin".
This unprecedented fact of international drug trafficking was exposed by the employees of the Central Criminal Police Department, Patrol Police Department, Prosecutor General's Office and the Customs Department of the State Revenue Service under the Ministry of Finance as a result of complex operational measures and investigative actions.
Law enforcement officers are actively conducting relevant complex measures to identify other individuals involved in the aforementioned drug trafficking and bring them to criminal justice.
The investigation is underway under Articles 260 and 262 of the Criminal Code of Georgia.
The committed crime envisions up to 20 years or life imprisonment.
