The police reported a total of 743 trafficking cases last year, up from over 420 cases in 2021. The increase is widely blamed on increasingly accessible synthetic drugs mainly sold through the internet and, in particular, social media platforms such as Telegram.
Armen Khachatrian, a senior lawmaker representing the ruling Civil Contract party, said the alarming statistics was the main focus of Ghazarian’s meeting Civil Contract deputies that lasted for about three hours.
“The statistics is concerning, and the [ruling party’s] parliamentary faction is not satisfied with the current methods of the fight [against drug trafficking,]” Khachatrian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “Therefore, a new program must be drawn up in order to reduce this problem to a minimum.”
“We cannot tolerate widespread drug trafficking in Armenia,” added the former police officer.
Khachatrian was particularly concerned about a “significant number” of young Armenians suffering from drug addiction.
The youth are the main target group of Telegram channels selling drugs. Links to those websites are now painted on residential buildings and other public areas across Yerevan.
A prosecutor interviewed by RFE/RL’s Armenian Service last month insisted that law-enforcement authorities are cracking down on the illegal online trade. In his words, over the last three years they have identified and charged over two dozen members of four criminal associations that old several million dollars’ worth of narcotics through social media.
Critics of the Armenian government link the growing drug trade with recent years’ increase in Armenia’s overall crime rate. They say that the country not accustomed to widespread drug abuse is not as safe as it was before the 2018 “velvet revolution.”
The total number of various crimes registered by the Armenia police rose by over 24 percent in 2022.
Khachatrian said he and other pro-government lawmakers also discussed with Ghazarian recent scandals involving the Patrol Service, a new Western-funded police force tasked with road policing and street patrol.
The chief of the service, Colonel Artur Umrshatian, was fired two weeks ago following an extraordinary traffic incident at Yerevan’s main square which sparked accusations of incompetence directed at its officers. Dozens of those officers have been subjected disciplinary action over the past year.
“The minister admitted that there have been cases of unprofessional behavior by patrol officers,” said Khachatrian.