Civil Georgia, Georgia
March 16 2005

Georgian Arrested for Alleged Arms Smuggling in U.S.

On March 16 Georgian Deputy Interior Minister Bidzina Bregadze
confirmed the reports that a Georgian citizen was part of a group of
suspects arrested in the United States for alleged attempts to import
Russian-made military weapons into the U.S.

`The American side is investigating the case and the Georgian side is
not involved [in the investigation],’ Bregadze said, but refused to
unveil further details of the case.

CNN reported on March 15 that the alleged arm smugglers intended to
import rocket-propelled grenade launchers and shoulder-fired
surface-to-air missiles to the United States. The suspects are mainly
from Armenia, Russia and Georgia, according to CNN.