Commander of military unit arrested over official abuse 

ArmInfo.  The RA Anti-Corruption Committee has established that a resident of the Meghri community in the Syunik region, with the assistance of the commander of the N  military unit of the RA Ministry of Defense and another employee of  the same military unit, illegally imported from the Islamic Republic  of Iran a total of 2,619,580 cigarettes of various brands, without  taxable excise stamps, worth over 74 million drams.

Specifically, the preliminary investigation established that, to  implement his criminal intent, the Meghri resident contacted the  aforementioned Ministry of Defense officials, who, using their  official and official powers and the influence they exerted to the  detriment of state and official interests, instructed employees of  the military base under their command not to interfere with the  illegal transportation of cigarettes from the Islamic Republic of  Iran. In addition, to ensure unimpeded entry into the combat base's  command area and the unimpeded transportation of unmarked cigarettes  from the Islamic Republic of Iran to the city of Agarak, a Kamaz  truck belonging to the military unit was provided.

As a result, servicemen from the military unit's combat base loaded  the illegally transported unmarked cigarettes onto the truck of the  said military unit and headed to the village of Agarak in the Meghri  community, where they were discovered and detained by RA National  Security Service officers on May 31, 2025.

The commander of the military unit and an employee of the same unit  were charged with abuse of office and aiding and abetting tax evasion  on an especially large scale under Article 549, Part 2, Clause 2, and  Article 46-290, Part 3, Clauses 1 and 2 of the RA Criminal Code.  Charges were also brought against a resident of the Meghri community  and five employees of the Ministry of Defense. The military unit  commander was remanded in custody, while another Ministry of Defense  employee was placed under house arrest.

The preliminary investigation against the eight defendants has been  completed, and the criminal case and indictment have been sent to the  Anti-Corruption Court of the Republic of Armenia.