The point of departure of the illegal cargo was the city of Odessa, Georgian authorities said
© Security services of Georgia
Georgia’s State Security Service has said that its operatives have seized a batch of explosives that Ukrainians had attempted to ship to Russia via third countries in order to stage terror attacks.
The illegal cargo, which included six sophisticated explosive devices weighing a total of 14 kilograms, had been shipped from the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, the agency said in a statement on Monday.
The explosives were brought into Georgia in a minivan after traveling through Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey on January 19, it said. During the search of the vehicle, the bombs were found hidden inside the batteries for an electric car, it added.
According to the security service, seven citizens of Georgia, three Ukrainians and two Armenians were involved in the delivery of the explosives. The people in question might have been unaware that they were actually transporting bombs, it stressed.
The whole operation had been organized by Ukrainian MP Andrey Sharashidze, who is a member of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, it said.
Source: State Security Service of Georgia
As a result of “comprehensive actions carried out by the Anti-Terrorism Center, based on the testimony of interviewed witnesses and recovered audio files,” it was established that the explosives were intended to be delivered to Russia, specifically to the city of Voronezh, the security service stressed.
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The bombs contained military-grade C-4 plastic explosives and were apparently made by “high-level specialists,” the statement read. “Deploying such a device in a crowded area might have caused significant damage to infrastructure and large-scale casualties,” it warned.
The agency also didn’t rule out the possibility that the suspects were planning to use some of the explosives to stage terror attacks inside Georgia.
The investigation continues in order to establish the identities of all those involved in the criminal activity, the manufacturers of the explosives and along which route they were smuggled into the country, the security service said.
