YEREVAN. – Interesting facts are emerging in connection with the recent arrest of Armenian Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Yuri Vardanyan’s son, Zhoghovurd daily reports.

“Zhoghovurd’s well-informed sources claim that the Islamic Republic of Iran law enforcement detained him on the Armenian-Iranian border on suspicion of transporting drugs. But verifying that he is an Armenian citizen, [and] the son of a senior official, they immediately sent him back to Armenia to avoid unnecessary uproar. At the same time, they informed the Armenian border guards of what transpired, and asked them to detain Davit Vardanyan.

“The Iranians acted in this way because in their country they sentence people to death for possession of drugs. And so that an Armenian citizen would not be sentenced to death, they preferred to ‘hand him over’ to his local law enforcement.  

“[But] Zhoghovurd was unable to verify this news from Yuri Vardanyan,” Zhoghovurd writes.