Investigative Committee Chairman Artur Poghosyan said he had reached agreements with specialised units on combating drugs during a visit to the United States. According to him, specialists will visit Armenia to discuss work in this area.

Poghosyan made the remarks during discussions of the draft 2027 state budget at a joint meeting of the National Assembly’s standing committees, responding to a question from MP Davit Ghazinyan.

Ghazinyan expressed concern about the spread of drugs and illicit arms trafficking, asking what steps the Investigative Committee was taking to change the situation. He stressed the importance of identifying major drug suppliers and criminal networks.

Poghosyan emphasised that one of the main priorities was preventing drugs from entering the country.

“The task is to intercept the drugs at the point of smuggling so that they do not enter the Republic of Armenia and are not divided into smaller quantities. Detecting them afterwards becomes significantly more difficult. In other words, the task is to prevent this at the initial stage,” the committee chairman said.

Asked about seeking remand in custody for people involved in drug distribution, Poghosyan said the committee sought custody in cases involving the sale of drugs or assistance in their sale. According to him, exceptions are made when individuals cooperate with investigators by identifying the source of the drugs or other members of the criminal organisation.

The committee chairman also noted that statistics on recorded cases did not fully reflect the actual situation, given the hidden nature of these crimes. He said that although statistics showed a decline in cases of drug and illicit arms trafficking, those figures alone were insufficient to assess the situation.