Georgia’s experience in detecting nuclear, radiation threats in Interpol meeting
In the meeting Georgia’s Deputy Interior Minister Giorgi Butkhuzi emphasised the “long and successful” cooperation between the country and Interpol, and stressed the importance of an effective exchange of information with the Organisation and member states in their work against crime. Photo: International Relations Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia/Facebook.
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Georgia’s experience in detecting and responding to nuclear and radiation threats at border crossing points was in focus of a meeting held within the International Criminal Police Organisation’s Geiger project in Georgia’s Black Sea city of Batumi on Wednesday, the Georgian Interior Ministry said.
In the meeting Georgia’s Deputy Interior Minister Giorgi Butkhuzi emphasised the “long and successful” cooperation between the country and Interpol, and stressed the importance of an effective exchange of information with the Organisation and member states in their work against crime.
The meeting was also attended by Vazha Siradze, the Director of the Patrol Police Department of the MIA, representatives of the State Security Service, the Office of the Prosecutor General, the Finance Ministry, as well as the Nuclear and Radiation Safety Agency of the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture.
Geiger is an analytical project of Interpol with a database containing over 4,200 incidents involving radiological and nuclear material. By carrying out searches of the Geiger database, Interpol provides member countries with information related to their investigation of terrorist and criminal acts involving radiological and nuclear materials.
The efforts of Georgian authorities to detect and seize radioactive materials in several cases over the past year has generated high praise from the country’s American and European partners.
Head of Georgia’s Nuclear and Radiation Safety Department of the Ministry of Environment Protection, Vasil Gedevanishvili, discussed Georgia’s current policy and future intentions regarding nuclear safety with head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safety and Security Coordination Section, Khammar Mrabit.
Professionals from 10 partner countries of Georgia have been introduced to Georgia’s experience in combating illegal trafficking of nuclear and radioactive threads in a working group of the Interpol’s Geiger project this week.
The Georgian State Security Service and Interior Ministry have seized presumed spare parts of armoured military vehicles following a search of a location adjacent to a house in the country’s north-eastern Dusheti municipality.
The Anti-Corruption Agency and Counterintelligence Department of the State Security Service of Georgia on Tuesday detained three individuals for illegal purchase and storage of radioactive substances and an attempt to sell them for $1.2 million.
Georgia has joined the International Radiation Monitoring Information System of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and thus the radiation indicators, received from Georgia’s Agency of Nuclear and Radiation Safety, will be automatically supplied to the IRMIS system and reflected on the international map, the Environment Ministry announced on Saturday.