Georgia foils a terrorist plot targeting gas pipeline

Georgian State Security Service said it has thwarted a terrorist act on a gas pipeline running through Georgia and carrying Russian gas to Armenia on Monday.

At a briefing in Tbilisi, the security agency told press that its counter-intelligence unit arrested on Aug. 20 five citizens of Georgia, who allegedly were plotting an explosion of a section of the gas pipeline, located near the village of Saguramo outside Tbilisi.

The Service confirmed that the five men were arrested shortly after they took 4 TNT 200-gram blocks and other parts of explosives from a cache, located in a forest in the vicinity of the Zhinvali-Shatili highway.

Those detained are facing charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives with "the purpose of carrying out a terrorist attack by a group", said the Service.

Two other men, including a patrol police officer, related to the case, were also arrested, said the Service.

While commenting on the alleged "terrorist act", a senior lawmaker from the ruling Georgian Dream party, Irakli Sesiashvili, disclosed the preliminary information showed this group was related neither to the Islamic State, nor to other terrorist groups.

"But investigation shows one of the arrested men often visited Ukraine", said him.

Meanwhile, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili confirmed the government had prevented a planned terror attack in Georgia, but declined to comment on details, citing ongoing investigation. Enditem