Georgian president declares creation of secret arms storage

Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili declared on Sunday that the secret weaponry caches had been secret state storage he himself had instructed to create in case of war. Addressing the media at Gori during a local wine festival, Saakashvili said: \"Defense fortifications were installed, especially around the capital; we also created arms storage - that was my instruction; storage of weapons were created throughout Georgia, in those parts which are under our control ... in case of resumption of aggression. \"So there is nothing new either for me or for the new government and the defense ministry that there are arms storage ( in the country).\" The Georgian interior ministry announced on June 17 the uncovering of a secret cache of military weaponry along with illicit drugs and video recordings of tortures and sexual abuse in prison in 2011. Also found in the secret bunker in western Georgia were photos and ID documents of the then opposition leaders and activists. The same ministry later stated that it had found several more such weaponry caches in the country. Soon after this, a couple of lawmakers from the now opposition United National Movement party said the military storage belonged to the defense ministry though Irakli Alasania, the sitting defense minister, said he had no knowledge about such caches. With regard to the uncovered video recordings, the Georgian president said: \"I think we all understand that there were no video tapes in the arms storage.\" So far nine persons have been detained in connection with the uncover of a secret weaponry cache in western Georgia. The interior ministry is still investigating into the case. The content of some uncovered video recordings have already been revealed with certain technical treatment to the Tbilisi- based foreign diplomats and representatives of local media and civil society.