Nine detained in Georgia over large-scale drug offences

Nine people have been arrested at different times on suspicion of illegally acquiring and possessing particularly large quantities of drugs and facilitating their sale, Georgia’s Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

The suspects include both Georgian and foreign nationals.

The suspects were allegedly involved in drug-trafficking schemes in which they used various internet applications and social media platforms to hide drugs at designated locations for subsequent sale. They allegedly sent interested buyers the coordinates and photographs identifying the locations.

Police searches of the suspects and their homes, as well as investigative experiments at locations identified by them, reportedly led to the seizure of particularly large quantities of cocaine, methadone, so-called “bio” drugs and marijuana.

Law enforcement officers also seized materials allegedly used to package drugs and money believed to have been obtained from drug sales, the ministry said.

The offences carry penalties of up to 20 years or life imprisonment.