Officers of the Interior Ministry’s Central Criminal Police Department detained seven people on drug charges in Georgia.[1] Those detained included both Georgian citizens and foreign nationals.[2] They were accused of illegal acquisition and storage of drugs and psychotropic substances in an especially large amount, facilitation of their sale, and illegal cultivation of drug-containing plants.[1] Police said some of those detained were exposed through a controlled substitution of parcels addressed to them, after which especially large drug batches were seized as evidence.[2]

Searches of the accused, their temporary homes and locations they named recovered batches prepared for sale in an especially large amount.[1] The cannabis component was up to 4 kilograms of marijuana and 21 cannabis plants.[2] Officers also seized mephedrone, methadone and 323 pregabalin tablets, which are not counted as cannabis.[1] Investigators also seized packaging materials and a firearm.[1]

The investigation is proceeding under Criminal Code articles 260, 260-4, 19-260, 261, 265-1, 273 and 236.[1] Those charges carry up to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.[2]