MIA: Laboratories, three cannabis greenhouses, and record 28 kilograms of methadone seized, both Georgian and foreign nationals arrested

“Officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have carried out a series of successful operations against organised crime in Tbilisi and across the regions over recent days, uncovering a clandestine drug laboratory, three greenhouses dedicated to the cultivation of narcotics, and a record haul of nearly 28 kilograms of methadone,” Giorgi Bukhrashvili, Director of the Adjara Police Department, stated at a briefing held at the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia (MIA).

As was noted at the briefing, this represents the largest quantity of methadone ever seized by Georgian police.

“Those detained include both Georgian and foreign nationals. In connection with drug-related charges, searches carried out at the personal residences and homes of those arrested, as well as locations indicated by the suspects during investigative reconstructions, yielded narcotics prepared for sale and materials used for their packaging. Acting on operational intelligence, law enforcement officers conducting investigative activities at various residential addresses across Tbilisi and the regions discovered drug laboratories in which criminal actors had been producing various types of narcotic substances and psychotropic compounds by artisanal means. Also uncovered were purpose-built greenhouses in which cannabis was being cultivated and grown illegally in particularly large quantities.

Officers seized cultivation materials and what are believed to be the proceeds of drug sales as material evidence. In addition, the investigative activities carried out as part of these operations led to the seizure of firearms, automatic weapons, and ammunition.

The investigation is being conducted under Articles 236, 260, 260-quater, 261, 262, 263, and 265-prima of the Criminal Code, which provide for sentences of up to twenty years or life imprisonment. The Ministry of Internal Affairs will continue to identify individuals involved in drug-related crime and to ensure they face the full force of the law,” said the Director of the Adjara Police Department.