Explosives destined for Russia were intercepted by Georgia’s State Security Service, preventing potential terror attacks.
Illegal cargo with six explosive devices weighing 14kg was discovered in a minivan that traveled from Odessa, Ukraine to Georgia. The bombs were hidden inside electric car batteries.
Some citizens of Georgia, Ukraine, and Armenia were involved in delivering explosives. They may not have known they were transporting bombs.
According to the statement, the entire operation was allegedly organized by Andrey Sharashidze, a Ukrainian citizen of Georgian origin. Sharashidze, who was born in the coastal city of Batumi in Georgia, ran in a local election in Odessa in 2020 as a member of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s Servant of the People party.
The security service emphasized that as a result of comprehensive actions conducted by the Anti-Terrorism Center, which included interviewing witnesses and analyzing recovered audio files, it was determined that the explosives were intended to be delivered to Russia, specifically to the city of Voronezh.
According to an official statement, the bombs that were discovered contained highly potent military-grade C-4 plastic explosives. These devices were manufactured by individuals with a high level of expertise in bomb-making. The statement further emphasized the potential dangers associated with deploying such a device in a densely populated area, emphasizing the risk of substantial damage to vital infrastructure and the potential for a significant number of casualties on a large scale.
The agency also did not rule out the possibility that the suspects were planning to use some of the explosives to stage terror attacks inside Georgia. The investigation is ongoing to establish the identities of all those involved in the criminal activity, including the manufacturers of the explosives and the route through which they were smuggled into the country, as stated by the security service.
