By Tatevik Lazarian
YEREVAN (Azatutyun) — The brother of Narek Mkrtchyan, Armenia’s newly appointed ambassador to the United States, has been arrested on suspicion of illegal arms possession and drug trafficking.
The Armenian Interior Ministry said on Thursday, September 4, that Mkrtich Mkrtchyan was at the wheel of a car that was stopped by the police outside Yerevan the previous night. It said the car also carried another man who “fled, throwing away his belongings — a gun and a powder-like mass — on the road.”
“The driver of the car [Mkrtich Mkrtchyan] was arrested on the spot and taken to the Vagharshapat department of the community police,” the ministry spokesman, Narek Sargsyan, told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service. “No banned items were found during his personal search.”
“Measures are being taken to track down the person who fled,” said Sargsyan.
The Investigative Committee said, meanwhile, that it has launched a criminal inquiry into illegal possession and trafficking of weapons, ammunition and narcotics. The law-enforcement agency did not indict anyone as of Thursday afternoon.
