Georgian police seize record quantity of methadone in anti-organised crime operation

Georgia’s Interior Ministry has announced what it described as a major breakthrough in the fight against organised crime, following a series of coordinated police operations in Tbilisi and several regions.

The head of the Adjara Police Department, Giorgi Bukhrashvili, on Monday said officers uncovered a makeshift drug laboratory, three greenhouses used for cultivating narcotics, and a record quantity of methadone - up to 28 kilogrammes.

“This is the largest amount of methadone ever seized by police,” Bukhrashvili said. Both Georgian and foreign nationals have been detained in connection with the case.

Searches of suspects’ homes and personal belongings, as well as investigative experiments at locations identified by the detainees, led to the seizure of narcotics prepared for sale and materials used for packaging drugs, the authorities said. 

Investigators said that, acting on operational information, officers carried out searches at multiple residential addresses in Tbilisi and other regions, where they discovered drug laboratories in which various narcotic and psychotropic substances were allegedly produced using improvised methods.

Law enforcement officers also seized equipment used for cultivating narcotic substances, as well as cash believed to have been obtained from drug sales. Firearms - including automatic weapons - and ammunition were also confiscated during the operation.

The investigation is being conducted under several articles of Georgia’s Criminal Code, including those related to illegal drug production, trafficking, cultivation and firearms offences. If convicted, those charged could face up to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.