State Security Service Foils Drone-Assisted Drug Smuggling in Bilasuvar

Azerbaijan's State Security Service (SSS) has dismantled an illicit cross-border drug smuggling channel utilizing an unmanned aerial vehicle (drone).

According to investigative findings, a resident of the Islamic Republic of Iran orchestrated the aerial delivery of a substantial shipment of narcotics across the border into an area near the Jabrayil IDP settlement in the Bilasuvar district. Acting on operational intelligence, SSS operatives apprehended two Azerbaijani citizens—Rufat Bayram oglu Badalov and Rustam Ali oglu Mukhtarov—at the drop site as they arrived to retrieve the payload for domestic distribution. Law enforcement seized 14.158 kg of dried marijuana, 979 grams of methamphetamine, and 23.1 grams of opium. Operational and investigative proceedings under the opened criminal case remain ongoing.