TBILISI. June 19 (Interfax-AVN) - The Georgian chief military prosecutor's office has launched a criminal case to investigate allegations that a large batch of arms has been imported to the country, Chief Military Prosecutor Georgy Dzhikia told reporters on Wednesday.
"The criminal case was launched against Major Simon Mchedlidze, deputy chief of the 11th subdepartment in the Georgian State Security Ministry's department on protection of installations, and Russian citizen Artur Lutkov," Dzhikia said.
"An operation carried out by employees of the chief prosecutor's office and Interior Ministry resulted in the seizure of expensive artillery systems, guided missiles intended for hitting armored vehicles and aerial targets, and launchers for them. The assets were seized from a jeep on which Mchedlidze and Lutkov were riding from Gori to Tbilisi," the official said. The two men carried Makarov and Bayer pistols that also seized. Dzhikia stressed that the pistols had been delivered to Georgia through the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Commenting on the situation Georgian State Security Minister Valery Khaburdzania said that apart from the service ID Mchedlidze also had identification papers issued by the Interior Ministry, Defense Ministry, Tsenturion private detective company and Special State Protection Service.
Investigators are establishing the degree of Lutkov's involvement in the case, Khaburdzania stressed.
They believe that the seized batch of the arms might have been intended for Chechen rebels staying in the Pankisi gorge for further delivery to Chechnya. At the same time, David Shengelia, commander of the Forest Brothers guerrilla unit, has announced that the armament batch was intended for his group. According to him, the cost of the weapons amounted to USD7m, not USD300m as claimed by the Georgian State Security Ministry.
Shengelia did not say where the armament had been purchased.
A source in the Georgian parliament told Interfax-Military News Agency that "the incident, as well as the recent theft of 13 tank machine-guns and 24 tank-mounted radio stations from the 11th motorized rifle brigade in Vaziani will be discussed by the parliamentary committee on defense and security on Friday and at the next session of the Georgian National Security Council."