Georgian police seize up to 52 kg of cocaine in transnational case involving “one of largest internet stores”

Law enforcement officers from Georgia have seized up to 52 kilograms of cocaine in a transnational case involving “one of the largest internet drug sale stores”, Teimuraz Kupatadze, the Head of the Central Criminal Police Department of the country’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, said on Tuesday.

Kupatadze said the drugs had been concealed in a shipping container loaded with bananas, which had been transported from Ecuador to Europe through Georgia, and noted law enforcement were working to identify individuals involved in the case.

He said police officers had also “seized and neutralised one of the largest internet drug sale stores” that had supplied “over 50 percent of the black market" and sold a “particularly large amount of narcotic drugs by placing method”.

He added the store had been managed by a Georgian citizen who had been arrested, with the efforts also involving a seizure of 27,000 pills of the narcotic drug Ecstasy, amounting to 12 kilograms, and 10 kg of MDMA during the arrest.

The police official also said 77 individuals had been arrested on drug-related charges, including 23 for drug-dealing, in cases spanning “over a recent period”, with the arrested individuals including nationals of Georgia, India, Iran, Nigeria, Russia and Turkey.

The Department Head added police officers had also seized a “large and especially large amounts” of narcotics and psychotropic drugs, including heroin, cocaine, MDMA, Alpha PVP, methamphetamine, Methadone and other substances from locations indicated by the offenders, as well as during searches of the individuals, residential houses and vehicles related to them.

A “large amount” of money allegedly obtained from drug sales by the group has also been recovered, he said.

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