Georgian Intelligence Foils Terror Act on Russia-Armenia Gas Pipeline

TBILISI – Georgia’s State Intelligence Department on Saturday detained a group of Georgian citizens who were allegedly plotting terrorist act on the Russia-Armenia gas pipeline, passing near the river Aragvi and two others for helping them to realize their plan.

Savle Motiashvili, an investigator of the State Security Service, said at a Monday briefing that five people were stockpiling explosives to blow up a section of the Georgian stretch of the pipeline, which passes alongside the Aragvi River and connects Armenia to Russia.

Investigators said an active Poti police officer named Levan and a second Georgian citizen, whom they identified as Irakli, were also detained and accused of having links with the terrorist group.

According to the intelligence service, members of a terrorist group travelled to a forest near the Zhinvali-Shatili highway to collect a hidden cache of explosives.

A counterintelligence unit seized 200 grams of TNT, fuses, five detonators and a Russian-made VZD charge from the detainees’ car.

Motiashvili also said the intelligence officers also impounded three automatic weapons, ammunition and a map marked with target locations.

By Tamar Svanidze
Edited by Nicholas Waller