Six foreign nationals held over cannabis farms in rented Tbilisi flats
Georgia's Central Criminal Police arrested six foreign nationals on 29 May 2026 and said they had grown cannabis on an industrial scale in rented apartments in several districts of Tbilisi. Police seized cannabis plants, dried marijuana, THC and cocaine, and the six face up to 20 years or life in prison.
Officers of Georgia’s Central Criminal Police Department arrested six foreign
nationals and accused them of growing cannabis in rented apartments in several
districts of Tbilisi.[1][2]The Interior Ministry said the group had set up
greenhouses in the flats and cultivated a particularly large amount of cannabis
for sale.[2]
Police searched the suspects’ homes and temporary addresses and seized cocaine,
tetrahydrocannabinol, cannabis plants and dried marijuana, as well as packaging
materials and equipment used to grow and process the drug.[1][2]The ministry did
not disclose the detainees’ names or nationalities.[1]
The six are charged with illegally buying and storing narcotics in especially
large quantities, helping to sell them and illegally cultivating plants containing
narcotics.[2]Such offences carry up to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment
in Georgia.[1]The investigation continues.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
Arrested
6
Agency type
Police
Cannabis
Herbal cannabis; Living plants
Activity
Cultivation, Sale
Setting
Home, Prison
Grown
Greenhouse
Case stage
Sentenced
Sentence
Life imprisonment
Sources
News Georgianewsgeorgia.geRUВ Тбилиси задержали шестерых иностранцев с плантациями марихуаны в квартирах
Medianewsmedianews.gePolice reveal organized drug trafficking group, six foreign nationals detained
Open questions the AI reported
Police gave no count of the plants and no weight for the drugs seized.
The Interior Ministry did not disclose the detainees' names or nationalities, or name the districts where the flats were.
No court outcome was reported.
Both accounts rest on the same Interior Ministry statement, so they are not independent.
Georgia's Central Criminal Police detained seven Georgian and foreign nationals in Tbilisi on charges of large-scale drug acquisition, storage and facilitation of sale. Searches recovered dried marijuana and THC alongside synthetic drugs, with the charges carrying up to 20 years in prison or life imprisonment.
Police in Georgia detained two people in separate operations, including a controlled delivery of a parcel from abroad that held about 200 THC capsules. The second detention at Tbilisi airport involved methadone and buprenorphine, with both cases investigated as especially large-scale import punishable by up to life imprisonment.
Police searched the home of a 56-year-old Tskhinvali resident and seized 37.73 grams of marijuana, South Ossetia's Interior Ministry said. A Tskhinvali court fined him 8,000 rubles for drug use, and he faces a criminal inquiry over storing the drug.
The Interior Ministry registered 5,598 drug crimes in 2024, 10,475 in 2025 and 7,533 in the first half of 2026; more than half were purchase or possession under Article 260. The Prosecutor General's Office opened 119 drug cases against Russian citizens in 2024, 196 in 2025 and 234 in the first nine months of 2026.