47 police officers in Armenia dismissed due to drug use

YEREVAN, October 15. /ARKA/. During a hearing in parliament, Armenian Minister of Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan reported that as a result of the checks, 47 police officers were dismissed due to drug use. He noted that at the moment, police officers are required to undergo a drug test before being admitted to mandatory re-certification.

When asked whether there were known cases where drug sales were carried out under the patronage of high-ranking Internal Affairs Ministry officials, Ghazaryan said he was confident in the reliability of the ministry's top leadership. However, he reported that one Patrol Service employee and one Rescue Service employee were fired directly for drug trafficking. 

In response to this, MP and chairman of the Standing Committee on Defense and Security Andranik Kocharyan noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs needs to use all the opportunities available to them, in particular, wiretapping tools, in order to identify such cases as early as possible. -0-