Armenian law enforcement has issued an all-points bulletin for Mihran Poghosyan former head of the country’s Compulsory Enforcement Service (CES), in connection with the May 17 seizure of one ton of cocaine allegedly smuggled into Armenia in boxes of fruit imported by a company he owns.

Armenia’s National Security Service today announced that Poghosyan, is the actual owner of Mrgeni LLC, the company named as importing the fruit to Armenia from Equador via Panama, Italy and Georgia.

The May 17 seizure of the cocaine came one day after a larger amount of the drug bound for Armenia was seized in Italy.

Several Mrgeni company officials have been arrested.

Poghosyan is best known for his shady offshore financial dealings as first reported by Hetq in April 2016 after the release of the Panama Papers.

Armenia’s Special Investigative Service (SIS) launched a criminal case into Poghosyan’s offshore transactions in 2016 but dropped the matter in January 2017.

Poghosyan, who resigned from his post at the Compulsory Enforcement Service in April 2016, maintained he was not involved in any offshore business deals. He was elected an Armenian MP on the Republican Party of Armenia ticket in May 2017.

In 2019, Poghosyan was charged with embezzlement and abuse of official authority while serving as CES head, the agency tasked with implementing court orders.

The SIS, at the time, charged Pogosyan with appointing his personal bodyguard and his chauffeur as top-level advisers at the Compulsory Enforcement Service and using the two to carry out personal matters rather than government work. (Poghosyan headed the CES from 2011-2016).

The SIS says the two never showed up for work but received 44.199 million drams in wages. The SIS also claims that while serving as CES director Poghosyan defrauded the Armenian government out of millions when he purchased cars, to be used by his agency, at above market cost from a company he owned.