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Armenian MP Tevan Poghosyan in an interview with Panorama.am commented on the arrest of a criminal group by Armenia’s  National Security Service (NSS). The group intended to commit grave crimes, including terrorist acts, in the territory of Armenia.

T. Poghosyan said that it is still too early to make an assessment , and it is necessary to wait for more details to be available.

According to the deputy, he repeatedly said recently, especially after the Paris attacks:” Although there are objective conditions to believe that Armenia is the safest country in the region in terms of a potential terrorist threat, the state agencies ad society should remain vigilant”.

“Vigilance, attention, and tactfulness may help deal with these problems. We should react promptly and properly so as to prevent terrorist acts,” he noted, adding that terrorism recognizes no borders and is a common threat.

“A terrorist act may be committed in any country where they see opportunities for it,” the deputy said.
As regards the operational investigative measures of Armenian NSS, as a result of which an organized criminal group that planned a series of grave crimes in Armenia has been revealed, Tevan Poghosyan said that luckily the matter is about “preventive measures”. 

“It is still early to make an assessment because few details were released in order to understand who the group members were and what countries they came from,” Poghosyan said.

In his words, at the same time these events cause the relevant agencies to become more vigilant about the people who cross Armenian state border and the trips to our country,

“I am glad to hear that crimes were prevented. But I should once again urge all state bodies, law enforcement agencies to increase their vigilance and work out new mechanisms of cooperation with foreign colleagues,” the deputy stressed.

He expressed hope that the appropriate bodies will intensify the exchange of information with foreign colleagues involved in the fight against terrorism.

“At the same time I should tell our public that the danger is real. We have a bad region in the sense that the security level is not very high. The Islamic State is only 400 km from us. You see what Turkey is doing. You know that there are ISIS militants in Georgia and that many from Azerbaijan joined that group, fought on the side of ISIS and returned to the homeland. Considering this, we should be aware that Armenia has been under the sight since 2011,” the MP stressed.

“Since there are Armenian communities in all the countries of the region where such actions are taking place, we should have been aware since 2011 that henceforth we are represented in the fight against terrorism,” T. Poghosyan added.