TBILISI, March 11 – Georgian police said Wednesday they had seized dozens of illegal firearms, ammunition and explosive materials across the country over the past two days, with 51 people detained in a broad security operation.
The announcement was made at a briefing by Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Aleksandre Darakhvelidze, who said the searches were carried out in Tbilisi and several other regions of Georgia on the basis of court orders.
According to the Interior Ministry, officers confiscated a large quantity of evidence during searches of detainees, their homes, storage spaces and vehicles. The items seized included firearms, automatic weapons, hand grenades, magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and explosive substances.
Darakhvelidze said the operation was part of what he described as the ministry’s ongoing fight against organized crime and broader efforts to prevent violent offenses and protect public safety.
The cases are being investigated as illegal possession and handling of weapons, violations that carry a sentence of up to seven years in prison, according to the ministry.
The deputy minister also used the briefing to argue that police and preventive measures have helped reduce the number of crimes committed against life and health in Georgia. He said official statistics published by the ministry support that claim.
In recent years, Georgia has seen periodic police operations to round up illegal weapons, but the scale of the latest operation stands out in terms of the number of arrests and the range of items confiscated.
