Police arrest 46 on drug violations across Georgia

Georgian police on Tuesday said law enforcement officers had arrested 46 individuals on drug-related charges, including 36 for drug-dealing violations, in capital Tbilisi and other regions of the country.

Teimuraz Kupatadze, the Head of the Central Criminal Police Department, told local media the arrested individuals included nationals from Georgia, Egypt, Iran, Nigeria, Russia, Ukraine and Yemen.

He said police officers had seized “various kinds” of “especially large amounts” of substances including heroin, methadone, buprenorphine, alpha PVP, lyrica, ketamine, methamphetamine, LSD, marijuana and cannabis as well as electronic scales and money allegedly obtained from drug sales as part of their efforts.

The Department Head also noted other cases involving an organised group and three related arrests, and said members of the group were citizens of Ukraine and Georgia.

He noted the arrested individuals were involved in drug-selling schemes and had concealed the substances before communicating their positions to persons interested in purchasing the drugs.

Kupatadze also detailed offences by a Ukrainian citizen who he said had placed a “large amount” of drugs at nine locations in the yard of the Svetitskhoveli cathedral, an 11th century UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mtskheta, near capital Tbilisi, before selling them through “various internet applications”.

The offences are punishable by 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.