Minister says “not a single” weapon smuggled out of Armenia

Regnum, Moscow
23 Mar 05

An Armenian citizen, wanted by the police, is accused of trying to
smuggle arms into the USA. Meanwhile an investigation showed that not
a single weapon was smuggled out of Armenia, the secretary of the
National Security Council under the Armenian president and defence
minister, Serzh Sarkisyan, said on 23 March.

According to him, there has always been tight controls over arms depots
in Armenia and Nagornyy Karabakh. “Not a single theft has ever been
registered,” the minister noted.

To recap, Armenian citizen Artur Solomonyan and his brother Levon
Solomonyan and a few others, were detained on suspicion of arms
trafficking into the USA. Both of them have been wanted by the police
since 2001 for dodging military service.

According to the investigation, the Armenian citizen was in charge
of the international criminal gang comprised of citizens of Armenia,
Georgia and the USA.