Officials: Police Check Reveals no Terrorists in Pankisi

Georgian Interior Ministry forces, in cooperation with the Security Ministry carried out, as officials put it, an ?inspection? of the Pankisi gorge on September 21. The law enforcers went door-to-door checking the papers and documents of the Chechen refugees living in the gorge.

The move follows allegations by certain Russian officials regarding the presence of Chechen fighters in Pankisi, an area which lies in the north-eastern part of Georgia near the Chechen section of the Russo-Georgian border.

Deputy Security Minister Gigi Ugulava, who was in Pankisi gorge during this operation, dismissed these accusations as ?disinformation.?
 
?This information is far from the truth. Our inspection has confirmed that there are no fighters, or terrorists in Pankisi,? Ugulava told reporters.
 
According to Deputy Interior Minister Gia Getsadze, who also visited Pankisi on September 21, special groups of law enforcers, which will carry-out round-the-clock patrols of the gorge, will be set up soon.