A wanted Georgian citizen has been detained on charges of acquiring and storing a large quantity of firearms, ammunition, and explosives with the intent to carry out acts of sabotage, parallel to the organized group violence and the attempted seizure of the Presidential Palace on October 4, 2025. The First Deputy Head of the SSSG, Lasha Maghradze, said at today’s briefing.

“Following a complex special operation prepared over the last four days involving various structural units, officers of the State Security Department of the SSSG detained a fugitive Georgian citizen in the neutral zone between the Georgia-Armenia border checkpoints. The detainee is accused of purchasing and storing massive quantities of firearms, ammunition, and explosive devices for the purpose of carrying out acts of sabotage, parallel to the organised mass riots and the attempted storming of the Presidential Palace on October 4, 2025.

Let me remind you that state security officers discovered firearms, ammunition, and explosives, complete with detonators, hidden in a purpose-built cache in a forested area near Tbilisi on October 4, 2025.

The investigation has established that, acting on instructions from a Georgian member of a military unit operating in Ukraine, the detainee had procured the aforementioned weapons.

These weapons were intended for use by the organisers of the October 4 unrest to carry out sabotage operations if required.

As you will recall, preventive measures undertaken by state security personnel on October 4 also successfully neutralised the circle of individuals who were allegedly tasked with transporting these arms and explosives into central Tbilisi.

The detainee was charged in absentia on October 6 last year under Article 236, Part 3 of the Criminal Code of Georgia. The following day, Tbilisi City Court remanded the person in custody as a preventive measure, and on October 8, a formal manhunt was initiated based on a prosecutor’s decree.

In addition to the current charges, investigators are working to secure further evidence regarding the conspiracy to commit acts of sabotage and illegal border crossing.

The investigation is also actively tracing the contacts of the detainee and those who issued the criminal directives to establish their links with Bachana Akhalaia, Paata Burchuladze, and other individuals involved in organising the crimes of October 4, 2025”, - said Lasha Maghradze.