Ararat Davtyan, Edik Baghdasaryan

Today there are 44 foreign citizens detained in the penal institutions of Armenia who have been convicted or accused of illegal drug smuggling for eventual sale. The vast majority of them (80 %) are citizens of the Islamic Republic of Iran. For 29 out of 35 detained Iranians, the sentences handed down have not come into force; i.e. in terms of chronology, their cases are rather "fresh".

“Opiates or so-called ‘chernyashka’ are smuggled into Armenia mainly from Iran. As opposed to a few years ago, when uncovering 5 or 10 grams of opiates was considered an outstanding achievement, now we seize kilos of them,” says Hunan Pogosyan, Deputy Head of the RoA Police, who used to serve as the Head of the Police Department’s Organized Anti-Crime Division. The South Caucasus region, which includes the Republic of Armenia, links the Caspian and Black Seas, and Middle East, Turkey and the Russian Federation.

The South Caucasus is being affected by the drug trade given the region's proximity to the main drug trafficking routes from Afghanistan (where opiates turnover brings in $25 million annually) into Russia and Europe. Since 2004, the amount of opiates uncovered in Armenia has been increasing. Recently however, not only have seizures increased of this type of drug but also of other types of drugs. According to police data, the amount of drugs (not including psychotropic drugs and precursors) seized from illegal traffickers over the last year exceeds by 2.5 times the amount of drugs seized in 2008.

Based on data obtained in the first month of this year, we can easily estimate that in 2010 Armenian law enforcement authorities will register a record level of drugs seizures. In March alone, officers of the National Security Service (NSS) seized 4 cases of transportation of methamphetamine (a highly addictive drug) via the Teheran-Yerevan-Moscow-Bangkok route at the Zvartnots International Airport (Yerevan). In the first case, 3 kg of methamphetamine was detected in the baggage of two citizens of Iran. In the second case, a passenger tried to hide the same type of drug in the lining of sportswear he was wearing. In the third case, 130 small plastic bags filled with methamphetamine (total weight 1.345 kg) were found in the stomachs of 4 foreign citizens.

As for the fourth case, law enforcement authorities detected 4.656 kg of the drug in the baggage of 3 Iranian citizens - wool jackets had been saturated with the drug.

In regard to the fourth case, the NSS reports that two leaders of the criminal gangs organizing the drug smuggling were detected and detained in Yerevan (due to the secrecy of the preliminary investigation we do not provide other data related to this case). "Recently in Armenia, the number of marijuana smokers has roughly equaled the number of heavy drugs users (intravenous users), which causes concern. Previously the ratio was 70/30, i.e., 70 percent used drugs by smoking.

Drugs ingested by smoking are relatively weak in terms of harm and addiction they cause,” says Nazaret Mnatsakayan, Head of the Department for the Fight against Illegal Drug Turnover and Trafficking of the RA Police. Of the drugs consumed by smoking, cannabis and poppy are cultivated in Armenia.

Cannabis grows mainly in the southwestern part of the country, in the Ararat valley, and poppy straw in the northern part of the country, mainly in Gegharkunik Marz. Annually, law enforcement authorities implement countrywide large-scale anti-drug operations (entitled “Hemp-Poppy” and “Kanal”), as a result of which huge plantations are uncovered and destroyed. 

First Deputy Chief of the RA Police, Hunan Poghosyan, points out that “there are no special reasons for concern in terms of drug smuggling from Georgia. From Turkey mainly white cocaine and heroin are smuggled in." In 2008 about 0.5 grams of heroin was seized in Armenia and 79 grams in 2009. This year, in one case under investigation,   Armenian law-enforcement authorities seized about 4.750 kg of opium and 7 kg of heroin. The market value of the seized drugs, as per the General Prosecutor's Office, is about USD 2 million. The seizure of this amount of heroin is unprecedented in the campaign against drugs in Armenia. Citizens of the Republic of Armenia and the Russian Federation are involved in this case, as well as ethnic Kurds who are Iranian citizens.

According to information provided by the preliminary investigation agency, the drugs were brought from Iran to Turkey and then smuggled into Armenia via the Armenian – Turkish border. Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations, and therefore the law enforcement agencies of the two countries do not collaborate either. Almost no collaboration exists between the law enforcement agencies of Armenia and the “friendly” Islamic Republic of Iran.

"During preliminary investigations of many cases, we have identified Iranian citizens, and we have sent appropriate official letters to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Also, we have sent along the criminal information laid against those Iranian citizens, translated into Farsi, so that they may be criminally tried in their country. However, in many cases, you might say in 99 % of the cases, we have received no feedback and we do not know anything about the course of those cases," says Vardan Muradyan, who heads the Division for Crimes on Illegal Turnover of Narcotic Drugs of the RoA General Prosecutor's Office.

Sona Truzyan, Press Secretary of the Prosecutor General, adds that the drug situation in Iran is rather poor, because drugs are smuggled into the country from Afghanistan and are further spread through diverse routes. Annually thousands of people combating this trade die in the country. "Cooperation between the law enforcement bodies of Armenia and Iran is not up to the mark. There are no clearly defined legal mechanisms for cooperation. The Prosecutor General raised this issue more than once during meetings with the Ambassador of Iran, and preliminary agreements have been reached already. The Iranian side took an interest in imparting new quality to the cooperation in this field," added Truzyan. Drugs from Iran are smuggled into our country mainly through the Meghri border crossing point.

According to a recently observed trend, not only Iranian but also Armenian citizens attempt to carry the drugs, smuggled into Armenia from Iran, to other counties through Zvartnots Airport. S.Sanamyan, Head of the Department of the Fight against Smuggling and Double Smuggling Control at the State Revenue Committee, says this can be explained by the fact that the airports in Iran are technically better equipped than Zvartnots Airport in Armenia. As for the Meghri and Bagratashen crossing points, Mr. Sanamyan notes that the only high-capacity technical equipment that has been installed in the region to date is in Bagratashen (crossing point into Georgia). 

The equipment includes scanners able to examine up to 40 tons of cargo. In addition, dogs trained to detect the presence of drugs help the customs officers. "A passenger’s behavior and psychological state usually is the tip off if they are carrying drugs... If, while passing through X-ray control, a passenger starts to make nervous movements, perspires and/or feels unwell, then we immediately invite them to pass through the red channel, where we thoroughly check not only the passenger, but also their baggage.

Experience has shown that, as a rule, on such occasions passengers are often found to have drugs”, says Arsen Galstyan, Head of the Customs Inspection Department of the Meghri Customs Point of Syunik Marz. He gives the example of Bosazadeh Mohammad Hassan Gyolam Hussein who tried to smuggle 6.2 g of opium in the heel of his shoe in January. Two months later, Yusef Hamamin and Davud Nuri tried to smuggle in towels saturated with opium; one with 3.250 kg of opium and the other with 3.600 kg of opium. S. Sanamyan notes that as a rule, when customs officers detect drugs, they rely on data received from an operative.

“This is very hard work. We had one case when we were working with a person for a long time, and then all of a sudden he informed us that his case was not important, that the important one was the person who followed him. And you do not know whether he is telling the truth or maybe he is important and you should not let him go free,” says S. Sanamyan, emphasizing the importance of "controlled supply.”

This refers to cases when law enforcement knows, from the operative's information, that a person has drugs but isn’t detained but rather followed in order to identify the whole circle of criminals. "Controlled supply" implies that, for example, a customs officer having information about drug smuggling deliberately “does not notice it.” However, A.Galstyan, Head of the Customs Inspection Department of the Meghri Customs Office, notes that in reality the "controlled supply" method is not practiced. A.Galstyan gives an example of activities similar to the “controlled supply.” 

Drivers in Iran, usually the drivers of buses going to Armenia, are given boxes with some items containing drugs. The drivers are asked to pass the baggage over to the owner in Yerevan after having called at a phone number indicated on one of the boxes. On these occasions, when customs inspection results in drugs detection, officers from the Anti-Smuggling Department accompany the bus in order to identify the person in Yerevan coming to receive the baggage. There are many criminal cases in Armenia involving drivers accused of drugs smuggling. For example, Asghar Ali Sadigh-Mesgar was sentenced in Armenia to 11 years of imprisonment. He used to work as a driver for "Azar-Tiz-Yal", a transportation company. On many occasions from 2002-2005, he sold large amounts of opium to David Galstyan from the town of Kapan. David, in turn, started selling the opium to his godson, Arthur, for $20 for 1 gram. As a result, Arthur paid $70,000-80,000 for 5-6 kg of the opium, and he was nearly $40,000 in debt to Galstyan. Arthur himself engaged in selling opium and sold 0.75 g to A. Nersisyan two or three times.   Arthur was soon detained and sentenced to 6 years imprisonment. As for David Galstyan, he was declared a wanted criminal and the case was suspended. "Today, one of the most painful things is that illegal drug turnover is very attractive as a business. In Iran, 1 g of “chernyashka” costs one U.S. Dollar, and in Armenia, AMD 20,000. (Today’s exchange rate hovers around $1= 369 AMD). Is there any other business that can make such huge profits? That is why many people are enticed,” says S.Sanamyan. At the same time, he notes that in Armenia there are no “serious profiteers”; no drug barons. There are only “small potatoes” here. According to police data, the prices of drugs on the black market in Armenia are as follows:

According to the police data, last year in Armenia 539 cases were uncovered related to the illegal turnover of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and precursors for the purpose of sale (Article 266 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia), whereas in 2008 there were 284 cases. All the interviewed high-ranking officials associated the increase in registered crimes and drugs seizures with improved law-enforcement efforts. To the question - "What is the real amount of illicit drug turnover in the country?”-  the Head of the Customs Inspection Department of the Meghri Customs Point of Syunik Marz, Arsen Galstyan responded:

“International experience shows that only 7 % of drug smuggling cases are detected in a given country. I cannot say anything concrete about the number of drug smuggling cases in our country. I can only state that we have detected a larger amount of cases owing to our good work." Nazaret Mnatsakayan, Head of the Department for Fight against Illegal Drug Turnover and Trafficking of the RoA Police, says that based on the opinion of international experts, only 10 % of illicit drugs trafficked in a country are seized. To the question - "Can we thus state   that last year in Armenia more than 0.5 tons of drugs were trafficked?” -  Mnatsakanyan answered that it is just an opinion, nothing more. In the opinion of Vardan Muradyan, Head of Division for Crimes on Illegal Turnover of Narcotic Drugs of the RoA General Prosecutor's Office, the 57 kg of the drugs seized in Armenia last year comprises 20-30 % of the real amount of trafficked drugs. However, no one can tell for sure. He   adds that the rise in illicit drug turnover is preconditioned by the increased demand for drugs, therefore it is necessary to take measures to decrease demand in the country. S.Sanamyan, Head of the Department of the Fight against Smuggling and Double Smuggling Control at the State Revenue Committee, having roughly estimated the current demand for drugs existing in the country, notes that about 45 kg of drugs are consumed in Armenia monthly.

"The results of various studies demonstrate that in Armenia 3,000-3,300 individuals regularly use drugs. So, if we have 3,000 drug users, with each consuming a daily dose of 0.5 g daily, we end up with a total of 45 kg per month. However, according to police data, 70-80 kg of drugs are trafficked to Armenia monthly. I’m just making a simple calculation". The Narcologic Clinic of the Ministry of Health of Armenia is the main facility dealing with treatment of drug addiction. According to the Head of the Narcologic Clinic, Chief Expert in Narcology, Petros Semerjyan,   we have 1,740 drug users registered in Armenia today. Last year the number was 1,141. Petros Semerjyan says that drug abuse in Armenia has increased by 50 %, but this estimation is based only on the data of the Ministry of Health; i.e. the people who have at least once applied to the Narcologic Clinic seeking for treatment are registered as drug users. Petros Semerjyan says that according to the estimates of various experts, the number of drug users in Armenia today is 30,000 and that of these, 5,000-7,000 are intravenous drug users. "…Geographically Armenia is situated at the crossroads of drug trafficking from Asia to Europe and during the last years potentially may become a transit route for illicit drug trafficking, while lacking the necessary technical facilities to fully counter this problem (International Narcotics Control Board 2008).", indicated in the Armenia National Drug Report, 2008. The high-ranking officials we interviewed noted that Armenia is threatened with the danger of becoming a transit country for illicit drug trafficking. However, Armenia is not a transit route today, and law enforcement agencies would continue making every effort to neutralize the danger. Vardan Muradyan, Head of Division for Crimes on Illegal Turnover of Narcotic Drugs of the RoA General Prosecutor's Office, verifies that based on the analysis of only 4 criminal cases one can conclude that attempts were made to smuggle drugs to other countries through Armenia, but that the attempts were averted. In addition, Hunan Pogosyan, Deputy Head of Police of the Republic of Armenia, notes that no data is available leading one to conclude that Armenia served as a transit rout for trafficking of drug consignments to this or that country.

"We have recently received information from Bulgaria that in 2008, a consignment of heroin of 375 kg uncovered there was trafficked, presumably through Armenia, to Turkey, Iran and Georgia. Now we are collaborating with their law enforcement bodies, trying to clarify whether Armenia served as a transit rout for the trafficking", says Hunan Poghosyan.

"But here we have some specificity. Border control is exercised by the Customs Service and by the National Security Service. There are cargos which transit through our country. According to the relevant legislation and customs regulations of the countries of origin, these cargos are not subject to inspection or subject to partial inspection. All this should be clarified." "We were informed about this case from the report of the UN Drug and Precursors Control Committee. We carry out activities to address this issue aimed at identifying the details and averting similar occasions. No Bulgarians or other international structures have provided us any information concerning that case. We got to know about it only from the report", adds Nazaret Mnatsakanyan". _________________________________________________________

[1] "National Report on Drugs, 2008". It is the forth, however, the recent annual report, which is published in South Caucasus within the framework of Anti-Drug Programme. Opiates smuggled to Armenia from Iran originate from Afghanistan.