• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Georgia Offers Money for Information Leading to Arrest of Drug Dealers

Posted on: Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

Minister of Internal Affairs Vano Merabishvili has said the government will offer money for information leading to the arrest of drug dealers. Addressing a live briefing, Merabishvili called on all sections of society to join the fight against drug abuse, saying the ministry alone will not be able to defeat "the worst disease". Merabishvili also said the largest ever quantity of narcotics had been seized in a recent operation in south-east Georgia. He criticized human rights activists, saying that they made it hard for the government to fight drugs trade and other crime. The following is the text of report by Georgian TV station Rustavi-2 on 17 August:

[Presenter] Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs have seized a large quantity of opium. Minister Vano Merabishvili is holding a briefing as we speak. We are going there live.

[Merabishvili] I welcome you all. I would like to add to what has already been reported by the media in recent days that [employees of] the Kvemo Kartli province office of the Interior Ministry Special Operations Department have seized in the village of Ponichala [south of Tbilisi] the largest ever quantity of narcotics in Georgia, 4.3 kg of opium.

I will show it to you right now. This is the largest batch seized on the Georgian market. [Opens a package containing brownish stuff; 100120-100145]

I would like to draw your attention to a more important issue, however. We have arrested more than 25 people in Ponichala, often in your presence. Some of them are in remand centres, while others have already been convicted. The vast majority of them face up to 20 years in prison. Some of them face a life sentence. Unfortunately, these operations haven't changed much, and Ponichala is a perfect example of this.

We believe, and I believe that the Ministry of Internal Affairs alone will not be able to change the situation in Georgia dramatically. We may seize many more batches like this one, but, unfortunately, the number of drug addicts and drug dealers in Georgia isn't going down.

We call on society, drug addicts' parents and friends, public organizations and the press to join the fight against drug abuse. In a week's time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will launch a new programme. We have decided to offer prizes to people who help us arrest drug dealers. In a week's time, I personally will set up a special unit with a hot line. We have decided to offer 1,000 lari [about 500 dollars] for information on drug dealers. We hope to carry out mass arrests of people involved in drugs trade.

I would like to once again stress, however, that this measure may not be enough either. It is essential that all ministries, all government bodies, all public organizations and all media outlets throughout the country join in changing the public opinion in Georgia. [We should] make the drug dealers unpopular, cast the drug addicts away as degraded people, posing threat to society and make their life in Georgia uncomfortable. Unfortunately, for years it has been fashionable in Georgia to use drugs and to be a criminal. Research has proved this.

We have to change the public opinion together. I would like to say a big thank you to all those who took part in recent operations, including the very dangerous operation carried out yesterday. We have arrested dangerous drug dealers and seized large quantities of drugs.

However, if there is demand in Georgia and our youth continue to use drugs at a large scale, there will be new dealers and we all have to fight them. We ask society to co-operate with us.

I repeat that in a week's time we will have a hot line. We will guarantee anonymity to the callers and will offer a prize to every person who helps us identify a drug dealer.

I am ready to take your questions.

[Question] [Words indistinct] Signs have appeared on a number of blocks of flats, reading: A drug dealer lives here [words indistinct]

[Merabishvili] I am very pleased that members of the public are so actively involved in the fight against drug abuse, and I am sure that once we have set up a hot line and informed the public which bodies collect information on drug dealers -

Unfortunately, in spite of frequent arrests, there are many people of this sort in Georgia. Their arrest often requires serious operations and hard work to gather evidence because it has become very fashionable to defend the rights of drug addicts, criminals and bandits on the pretext of defending human rights. The arrest of a crime boss or a [drug] dealer, or a criminal, or a bandit, often draws criticism from tens, sometimes hundreds, of human rights activists with nothing better to do.

Therefore, we will continue our work and will gather evidence in every arrest. I call on society to help us defeat the worst disease together. I think that if there is anything that threatens Georgia's youth, it is drug abuse. If we - [live coverage ends]

Source: BBC Monitoring Newsfile

More News in this Category