108 arrested, including foreign nationals, across Georgia in 72-hour nationwide drug crackdown

“A total of 108 individuals involved in or supporting drug distribution have been arrested following intensive operational and investigative activity conducted across the country over the past 72 hours,” stated Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Darakhvelidze at a briefing held at the Ministry.

It was confirmed at the briefing that both Georgian and foreign nationals are among those detained.

“Officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia carry out the relevant policing operations against the illicit trafficking and distribution of narcotics continuously. As a result of intensive operational and investigative activity conducted by law enforcement officers across the entire country over the past 72 hours, 108 individuals involved in or supporting drug distribution have been arrested.

Both Georgian and foreign nationals have been detained on charges of the unlawful acquisition and possession of narcotic substances and psychotropic substances in large and especially large quantities, their distribution, facilitation of distribution, and the unlawful cultivation of plants containing narcotic substances.

The investigation has established that the majority of those detained were involved in criminal schemes for the sale of narcotics. Based on court orders, police carried out controlled purchases of narcotic substances on several occasions, accompanied by covert audio and video recording. The covert investigative measures conducted have yielded evidence confirming their criminal conduct.

In the course of the policing operation, law enforcement officers also identified and detained drug offenders who had been planning to distribute especially large quantities of narcotic and psychotropic substances dispatched from abroad in parcels under concealment.

Police have also intercepted a further large-scale attempt to distribute narcotic substances in especially large quantities, and a foreign national has been arrested in connection with this. Investigative measures established that the accused had stashed various types of narcotic substances at more than 600 locations across the Imereti and Adjara regions for subsequent sale. Photographs of specific locations, complete with corresponding markers and coordinates, were found on the accused’s mobile telephone.

Following searches of the accused persons, their residential premises and vehicles, as well as during the course of an investigative experiment at locations indicated by the accused, law enforcement officers seized as evidence various types of narcotic substances prepared for sale in especially large quantities, including cocaine, heroin, methadone, alpha-PVP, MDMA, buprenorphine, and clephedrone.

As a result of the investigative measures conducted, police also seized materials used for the packaging of narcotic substances and funds believed to represent the proceeds of drug sales.

The investigation is being conducted under Articles 19-260, 260, 260(III), 260(IV), 261, and 265(I) of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which provide for sentences of up to twenty years or life imprisonment.

We regularly inform the public about the outcomes of law enforcement operations targeting the illicit trafficking and distribution of narcotics. As the public is aware, hundreds of instances of drug dealing, attempted dealing, and the smuggling of narcotics into the country have been intercepted. Law enforcement officers will continue to pursue an uncompromising campaign in this area, and all those involved in criminal schemes will be held to account before the law with the full force of its provisions,” the Ministry’s briefing stated.