A brazen theft of $590,000 from a government building in Yerevan has led to the arrest of a senior official from Armenia’s Investigative Committee. The cash had been previously confiscated from criminal suspects in 2023 and was stored in a safe on the sixth floor of the division handling smuggling and economic crimes.

Investigators suspect that an unknown individual entered the building using either a forged or stolen Investigative Committee ID, stayed inside for approximately 16 hours, and emptied the safe before calmly exiting the next morning.

On May 24, the Anti-Corruption Committee (ACC) announced that it is conducting “large-scale operational-investigative and evidentiary actions.” While the identity of the thief and the location of the missing cash remain unknown, Gor Tadevosyan, acting head of a division within the Investigative Committee, has been arrested in connection with the case. The ACC has yet to specify the formal charges against him.

It has also emerged that an earlier theft attempt occurred in December 2023, raising serious concerns over why the funds were not stored in a more secure facility, such as the Central Bank or a high-security government vault.

The building, located in downtown Yerevan, is guarded by a private security firm. It remains unclear how the intruder bypassed multiple layers of protection without detection.

The incident has drawn criticism from government opponents, who say it reflects deeper systemic issues within Armenia’s state apparatus.