Law-enforcement officers seized up to 33 kilograms of drugs, the value of which on the so-called black market amounts to 6 million GEL. This was stated by the Director of the Central Criminal Police Department, Davit Kiknadze, at a briefing held at the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

“The relevant units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs continue the fight against drug crime every day, in a continuous regime.

As a result of the next complex police measure carried out by employees of the Central Criminal Police Department against the illegal circulation and distribution of drugs, 2 citizens of a foreign country have been detained in the city of Rustavi on charges of drug crime.

From one of the residential apartments of the accused, up to 33 kilograms of the narcotic substance ‘tetrahydrocannabinol,’ the so-called hashish, of a particularly large amount, the value of which on the so-called black market amounts to 6 million GEL, has been seized as material evidence. Part of the said drugs the detained persons had hidden in the same apartment in the tyres of a car.

From yet another residential apartment of the accused and from a hotel room in Rustavi, law-enforcement officers also seized particularly large amounts of the narcotic substances ‘cocaine,’ ‘heroin’ and ‘methadone.’

The investigation established that the detained persons were acting in a coordinated manner and were planning the realisation of the drugs by various methods, however, as a result of the operational response of the law-enforcement officers, they were unable to carry out the criminal intention.

Apart from the said persons, as a result of police measures carried out in an intensive regime against drug crime in Tbilisi and the regions over the past several days, law-enforcement officers detained a further 24 persons, among them 15 persons involved in various forms in drug realisation.

The said persons were involved in various forms in drug-crime schemes, including the use of internet applications, as well as the method of hand-to-hand transfer and the method of placing drugs in concrete locations.

Law-enforcement officers seized as material evidence various types of narcotic substances of a particularly large amount prepared for realisation, materials needed for the packaging of drugs, and money.

Also seized were specially equipped greenhouses where the illegal cultivation of a particularly large amount of a narcotic substance was taking place.

The investigation is being conducted under Articles 260, 260⁴, 19-260 and 265¹ of the Criminal Code of Georgia, which provide for deprivation of liberty of up to 20 years or life imprisonment.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs is actively continuing the corresponding complex measures aimed at preventing the illegal importation and distribution of narcotic substances in the country,” Davit Kiknadze stated.