Armenia arrests arms dealer wanted by Azerbaijan

Arms dealer David Galstyan, put on the international wanted list by Azerbaijan, has been detained in Yerevan.

As Caliber.Az reports with reference to Sputnik Armenia, on January 30, a group of masked operatives broke into Galstyan's house. According to the Armenian media, Galstyan was allegedly detained as part of a new criminal case, and not at the stage of a judicial investigation.

In the summer of 2021, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Azerbaijan put David Galstyan on the international wanted list on charges of organizing air smuggling of illegally acquired large-calibre military firearms, ammunition, explosives and devices to Armenia and from there to the Azerbaijani territories occupied by Armenia from 2001-2021.

In Armenia, Galstyan, and with him, former Defense Minister David Tonoyan, are accused of abuse in the supply of ammunition. They were arrested in September 2021, but in March 2022 Galstyan was released on $100,000 bail.

Former Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Artak Davtyan, former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces Stepan Galstyan, ex-Head of the Aviation Department of the Ministry of Defense Avetik Muradyan, Head of the Aviation Technical Property Service of the Aviation Department of the Ministry of Defense Artem Ambaryan, Chief Engineer of the Aviation Department Vladimir Babayan are also accused in the relevant criminal case. The investigation accuses them of involvement in the purchase of unusable aircraft missiles and embezzlement of $4.6 million. They do not plead guilty.