The recipient in the case into the 1 ton of cocaine seems to be the well-known banana import company, whose owner is a former MP of the National Assembly (NA), who is currently being sought, and a member of the former ruling Republican faction. This was announced by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan Wednesday in the NA of Armenia.

"I cannot violate anyone's presumption of safety. Unfortunately, illegal drug trafficking has reached a very large amount in Armenia and throughout the world; moreover, all kinds of people can be included [in it]. Our criminal code specifies a criminal group, but not party affiliation. Now if it turns out that someone is a member of the [former ruling] Republican Party [of Armenia], does that mean let’s arrest the Republicans, led by the party's chairman? There can be members of different parties, non-party members, believers and non-believers. They are big parties, it may turn out that there are people who are not so devoted to the ideas that much. Such things often happen in our reality," Pashinyan.

According to the Armenian PM, at the meeting of the Security Council, he put questions to Armenia’s law enforcement agencies regarding illegal drug trafficking, and set a specific deadline for their implementation.

In response to an MP's question as to whether it is possible for officials to be involved in drug trafficking of such a volume, Pashinyan said that the anticorruption policy assumes just that.

"There are thousands of officials in Armenia. And we assume from this that an official will succumb to temptation more quickly. Armenia, unfortunately or fortunately, is not on Mars, we do not live on a separate globe. Drug trafficking is growing in the most developed countries of the world, and they are legalizing the trafficking of light substances in order to try to keep [it] under the control of the law," the Armenian premier said.