Central Criminal Police arrests 28 for drug crimes, including 16 for trafficking

The Georgian Interior Ministry on Tuesday said officers from its Central Criminal Department had cooperated with the Prosecutor General’s Office to arrest 28 individuals for drug crimes, including 16 charged with drug trafficking.

The Ministry said the law enforcement officers seized various types of “large and particularly large” amounts of narcotics as evidence from the group involving Georgian and foreign citizens, some with past criminal records.

The arrests came following a judge's ruling allowing controlled purchase of drugs from the alleged offenders by the officers, and covert audio and video recording.

The seized substances include cocaine, heroin, alpha PVP, methadone, MDMA, mephedrone, LSD, ketamine, buprenorphine, subotex, ecstasy, methamphetamine, marijuana and cannabis, recovered from the arrested individuals’ houses, during their personal search and from spots referred by the offenders.

Electronic scales and a “large amount of money” allegedly obtained from sale of the drugs were also recovered.

The crimes are punishable up to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.