Video: Iranian Citizen Attempted to Smuggle 7 Kg of Methamphetamine Concealed in Religious Icons into Armenia

The NSS has prevented another case of illegal trafficking of particularly large quantities of narcotics through smuggling. This was reported by the NSS press center.

According to the statement, "On May 11, 2021, officers from the Economic Security and Anti-Corruption Department of the National Security Service of Armenia discovered two religious icons containing particularly large quantities of methamphetamine, specifically Crystal, in a shipment handed over by an Iranian citizen, A.A., to a freight transportation company being sent to Japan.

Following the investigative group's actions and the professional efforts of the NSS officers in the investigation initiated regarding the illegal trafficking and distribution of particularly large quantities of narcotics, a search was conducted on June 2, 2021, at one of the residences belonging to Iranian citizen H.K. in the Center administrative district of Yerevan, where three similar religious icons containing methamphetamine were found.

It was determined that the mentioned narcotics were concealed within the religious icons to evade customs control and were transported from the Islamic Republic of Iran to Armenia by several Iranian citizens who were preparing to smuggle them out of Armenia.

As a result of the comprehensive investigative and legal measures taken by the NSS officers, the total weight of the discovered methamphetamine amounted to approximately 7 kg.

Within the framework of the criminal case under investigation by the NSS investigative department on suspicion of committing the aforementioned crimes, four citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran were arrested and subsequently detained. The discovered religious icons have been sent for forensic examination, and necessary procedural steps are being taken to clarify all circumstances of the case as well as to identify the full range of individuals involved in the illegal import of narcotics into Armenia through smuggling.